


Trustworthy AU

by neyla9



Series: Trustworthy AU [1]
Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Badly Written Smut, Bill being kinda a jerk but alright, Dipper and Mabel are 15, Human Bill Cipher, M/M, Rating May Change, Slow Build, sorta - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-04
Updated: 2016-08-30
Packaged: 2018-04-30 01:23:00
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 21
Words: 100,533
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5145095
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neyla9/pseuds/neyla9
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the events of Gideon Rises, Bill Cipher enters Dipper's dreams and makes a deal with him - one that will change many future events.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone, and here we have my first big AU fanfic - Trustworthy AU (Title created by the-ech-bird . tumblr . com)
> 
> The series will be a rewrite of most of the Gravity Falls Season 2 episodes (plus a few new ones written by me).
> 
> For more information: neyla9 . tumblr . com /post/132108643207/ so-a-while-ago-i-was-thinking-about-doing-a

Dipper didn’t know how, but somehow, they had succeeded. He and Mabel had taken down Gideon’s giant robot, while Stan had revealed Gideon as the fraud he really was, and despite all odds, they were now back home in the Mystery Shack.

Dipper looked at his phone; it was past two am, Mabel was already asleep, hugging as many of her stuffed animals as her arms could handle, but Dipper, even taking his bad insomnia out of the equation, couldn’t fall asleep. The previous day’s hardships still fresh in his mind; What if they had failed? Would they have been back in California by now? Or would they have been dead? Fear and anxiety swirled around in his head, making his heart pump with adrenaline, yet in the end, it wasn’t enough to keep him awake, and soon, Dipper Pines was fast asleep.

 

Dipper was confused by the grey world he opened his eyes to, but soon realized where he was; the Mindscape. He found himself sitting on a see-saw, the end he was sitting on in the air, despite the fact that there was no weight on the other end to hold him up. The woods surrounding him and the see-saw were rather reminiscent of the forest in Gravity Falls.

“Alright, Bill,” Dipper called out. “I know you’re here! Show yourself!”

“Well, well, well,” the unmistakable voice of the demon sounded as, in a flash of golden light, he appeared. Bill was very small, smaller than when Dipper had met him. The triangle was on the other side of the see-saw, his feet kicking back and forth as they couldn’t reach the ground. “You’re awfully demanding, aren’t you, Pine Tree? Do you always have to spoil the surprise?”

“I don’t care about you or your surprises!” Dipper snarled. “What are you doing in my mind?”

“Geez, relax, Pine Tree,” Bill placated, holding up his hands in a universal gesture of non-violence. “I’m not here to start anything! I just came with a small… proposition I thought might pique your interest.”

“You mean a deal, don’t you?” Dipper replied deadpanned.

“Wow, only met me once and you already know what makes me tick!” Bill exclaimed as the see-saw started to move, raising Bill and lowering Dipper. “Now, I wouldn’t come to you with this, if I didn’t believe you would accept, so you know I must have a pretty good offer!”

“And I know you want something from me in return,” Dipper countered.

“Well, yeah, that’s how deals work!” Bill fired back. “Listen, kid, you want to keep your family safe from me, right? Well fine, I only accepted the deal with Gideon because I needed his help, but if I could receive someone else’s help, someone better, someone who’s even more in tuned to magic than Gideon…” Bill trailed off.

“What does that have to do with me?” Dipper asked suspiciously.

“Put two and two together, kid!” Bill barked out. “Here’s the thing; I’m currently stuck in a dimension with a population of one; me. I want out, your magic, while untapped, is powerful enough to free me. I unlock all your magic potential, giving you more mystical strength than you ever thought possible, said power you are then free to use to protect your family. All I ask in return is that you use that magic to free me from my dimension. Interested?” The see-saw moved once more, leveling them out completely.

“And what are you going to do once you’re free?” Dipper crossed his arms over his chest in a defensive manner.

“What do you care?” Bill hissed, throwing his hands in the air. “Of course, if you say no, I’ll just have to seek someone else out… And who knows? Maybe whoever I find has an even bigger grudge on you or your family than Gideon did. You wanna keep the people you care about safe?” Bill inquired.  
Dipper had only blinked, but the grey mindscape had already melted away into a black void, the only light source being Bill who now floated right in front of Dipper, hand stretched out.

Dipper thought through his options; if he rejected Bill’s deal, the demon was more than likely to make a deal with someone else like Gideon, someone who would use the power the triangle offered to gain and conquer whatever they wanted, damn the consequences. And while Dipper couldn’t think of any humans aside from Gideon who wanted his family dead, there were quite a few supernatural creatures who could cause quite a stir with Bill on their side, many of whom had a grudge against the Pines family.

Dipper sighed in defeat. “Alright, Bill… Deal.” Dipper took the demon’s outstretched hand. Blue flames conjured up from their joined limbs, leaving a burning sensation running through Dipper’s hand, all the way to his forehead, where his birthmark started glowing.

“Now, Pine Tree,” Bill started. “Banish me from my dimension! Build up whatever hate and spite you hold towards me, and use it to send me away!”

Dipper focused on all the events that had transpired when the demon had entered his Grunkle Stan’s mind, did his best to build up as much contempt and hatred as he could muster. He could feel some sort of energy flowing through his hands, leaving a tingling feeling, lighting his hands in a blue glow. He collected the glow in a ball in his hands, and threw it towards the triangle. The collision resulted in a blinding light, which forced Dipper to shut his eyes. When he opened them again, it was morning, and he was lying in his bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked it:3 Next chapter will be a rewrite of Scary-Oke


	2. Scary-Oke

Grunkle Stan had decided, with a lot of coercing from Mabel and the promise of profit, to throw a big party celebrating the re-opening of the Mystery Shack. While all the guests were outside buying tickets from Wendy, Dipper took this opportunity to try and get the journal back from Stan.

“Hey, Grunkle Stan?” he asked. “Now that have a moment, I’ve been meaning to ask you for my journal back.”

“Wha? Journal?” Grunkle Stan questioned and fiddled around with his pockets before seemingly remembering. “Oh! You mean this old thing,” he then lifted the counter and took out the journal from underneath it. “It was so boring, I couldn’t even finish it.”

“Wait? You’re just gonna give it to me? Just like that?” Dipper asked. With the way Stan had taken his journal he had honestly thought it would have been harder.

“What else do you want? A kiss on the cheek?” Stan joked.

“If he does, I would be more than happy to volunteer!” a voice chimed in. The Pines looked towards the entrance to the gift shop, and were met with a teen boy, roughly around seventeen, carrying a box of black light flashlights. The young man had dark skin, with hair in a screaming shade of yellow and striking amber eyes that almost seemed to light up. He was wearing a grayish green shirt with an All-seeing Eye symbol on, and black jeans that perfectly hugged his slender figure. Dipper had to admit, the guy was really attractive.

“The Mystery Shack is closed for the day, kid,” Grunkle Stan replied gruffly. “If you’re here for the party, it doesn’t start until tonight, and you need to buy a ticket.”

“Oh, right, the party,” the guy said, his wide smile not once leaving his face. As he put the box of black lights on the counter, Dipper noticed that the guy had very long nails, shaped in a fashion similar to claws. “I’m here to deliver the black lights you ordered.” The guy caught Dipper staring at him and responded with a wink, or at least, Dipper thought it was a wink. It was hard to tell since the guy’s hair covered his right eye.

“I haven’t ordered any black lights,” Stan told him.

“That’s odd… Well, since they’re already paid for, I can’t return them, so it seems like you’re just gonna have to take them.”

“Alright, kid,” Stan barked. “I don’t know who you work for-“

“Actually, I don’t have a job,” the guy interrupted. “That’s one of many reasons why I came here. I’m looking for work.”

“Wait,” Dipper interjected. “If you don’t work for anyone, why do you have a box of already paid for black lights?”

“Because I paid for them, silly,” the guy reached out a hand and patted Dipper on the head in a condescending manner.

“I don’t need any more workers.” Stan replied. “My employees are the top of the bunch-“

“Mr. Pines! Soos licked the glue of the six-pack-a-lope’s horns again!” Wendy voice rang.

“It tastes so good!” Soos yelled from the exhibition room.

“Then put some more on it!” Stan roared back at Wendy.

“I’d love to, but it’s like, ten, twelve feet away?” Wendy shouted.

“When can you start?” Grunkle Stan conceded to the guy.

“Actually,” the guy started. “I work as a magician. I thought the patrons of the Mystery Shack might enjoy a few parlor tricks; entertainment for the kids, pick pocketing for the adults.”

“Hmm… Alright,” Stan responded. “But if the cops get here, you’re on your own kid.”

“Oh, I don’t think that’s going to be a problem at all, but fine.”

“I’m gonna need your name if I’m going to hire you.”

“The name’s Bill Cipher.”

“What!?!” Dipper yelled.

“Geez, kid, don’t scream into my ear,” Stan reprimanded.

“Grunkle Stan, you can’t hire him! He’s a-“ Dipper was interrupted by Bill’s hand slapping over his mouth.

“-A good friend!” Bill finished. “But don’t worry, Pine Tree! I’m sure our personal relationship won’t get in the way of our professional one, right?” He then started to pull Dipper into the living room and turned towards Stan. “If you’ll excuse me, Mr. Pines, I need to have a word with this guy and his sister.”

 

After Bill had dragged Dipper into the living room, he finally let of the teen. Dipper saw that Mabel had decided to go after them.

“Dipper!” she exclaimed. “What is Bill doing here? And why is he a hot guy?”

“How should I know!?!” Dipper hissed back.

“Because I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you, Pine Tree!” Bill replied happily. “You see, Shooting Star – As it turns out, your brother has quite the magical talent. I decided to make a deal with him, he would bring me to this dimension and I would unlock his full magical potential.”

“That wasn’t the deal, Cipher!” Dipper argued. “You said you wanted to leave your dimension! I didn’t bring you to this one!”

“You banished me from my own dimension,” Bill clarified. “Did you think I was just going to disappear? I was going to end up somewhere, which, thanks to a bit of my own magic, ended up being here.”

“But why did you come to the Mystery Shack?” Mabel questioned.

“I’ve been keeping an eye on you two,” Bill started. “Honestly, I find your adventures very entertaining. I want to be on the front row seat of each one. Besides, destiny has its threads spun tightly around both of you… With time, you’re both going to do amazing things. As if I’m going to miss any of that!”

“Do you really think we’re going to trust you, after what you did!?!” Dipper yelled.

“Well, you’re the one who made a deal with him, Dipper,” Mabel pointed out.

“Mabel!” Dipper hissed at her. “Look, Bill, Mabel and I are going to tell Grunkle Stan, he’s going to fire you, and you’ll just have to contend yourself with that.”

“Well, if you told him I guess I would be out of your lives for a while,” Bill conceded. “But not in the way you’re thinking. Have you forgotten that Stan doesn’t believe in the supernatural? What’s he gonna think when you tell him his newest employee is a demon?” A smug smile started spreading across Bill’s lips. “He’s gonna think the town’s folklore has gotten too much to your head, he’s gonna send you back to California. Are you really willing to let your summer end already?”  
Dipper didn’t want to admit it, but Bill had a point. If the journal, containing information of all the wondrous things and creatures in the forest and town, couldn’t convince Grunkle Stan of the supernatural, why would he believe the twins if they told him Bill was a demon?

“Look, kids,” Bill started, laying a hand on one of the twins’ shoulders. “I’ll make this easy for you; I don’t want you to leave yet, not before I’ve been in on this. You don’t tell your Grunkle anything about me being a demon, and I promise I won’t hurt you. Deal?”

Dipper moved away from Bill’s hand, pulling Mabel along with him. “You have to promise not to hurt anyone!”

“Sure, sure, I won’t hurt anyone – and then when you’re attacked by dangerous creatures, I’ll just sit back and shrug and say ‘Welp, I wasn’t allowed to hurt anyone’.” Bill sassed back.

“Alright,” Dipper conceded. “You’re allowed to hurt others, if and only if it’s to protect someone else.”

“Let’s shake on it, kids,” Bill put one hand in front of each twin, his palms already flaring up with blue fire.

Mabel took Bill’s hand without much hesitation. Dipper, however, had a small moment of reluctance, before giving in and taking Bill’s other hand.

The deal was made.

 

After the encounter with Bill, Dipper took Mabel with him upstairs to their room. He locked the door, closed the window curtains and, in the off chance Bill could see through stuffed animals, which wasn’t that far a leap of logic, turned Mabel’s stuffed animals around.

“Mabel, we need to talk,” Dipper began. “Now that Bill’s here, we need to find a way to get him out of here, possibly even defeat him.”

“Doesn’t the journal have, like, ten pages dedicated to Bill?” Mabel asked. “Isn’t there something written about how to beat him?”

“No, I’ve already checked,” Dipper answered sadly. “But this is also journal number three – perhaps the previous journals have the method to defeat Bill written down. But, we have no idea where the other journals are, or even who wrote them! If only we knew who the author of the journals was… I bet he’d know what to do about Bill…”

“Don’t worry, Dipper,” Mabel cheered and picked up Waddles. The pig was dressed in a sleuth hat. “Lord Mystery Ham is on the case! ‘I play by me own rules, what, what!’”

“I don’t know why I tell you things…”

 

The rest of the day (and night) didn’t go according to anyone’s plan.

Two agents from the government had arrived. Dipper had been excited to share the secrets of the town with them, but Grunkle Stan had interrupted him and hid the agents’ business card away!

After promising to Mabel that he wouldn’t raise the dead, he had snuck into Grunkle Stan’s room and stolen the card back. He called the agents, but when he showed them the journal, they didn’t believe him.

Desperate, Dipper found a spell in the journal to summon the undead. The author had written down that after half a year’s practice, he had only managed to summon two zombies, so Dipper thought that he might be able to raise one. Big mistake. Dipper’s reciting of the spell had summoned an army of zombies that had attacked the agents and dragged them into the forest.

Then after getting chewed out by Mabel for breaking his promise of not raising the dead, Soos got bitten and turned into a zombie. The twins were then rescued from a similar fate by Grunkle Stan, and the three Pines had escaped to the twins’ room, where Stan revealed that he knew about the town’s supernatural side from the beginning, but had kept it secret to protect the twins!

While the journal hadn’t seemed to contain any info on beating the zombies, thanks to one of the black lights that Bill had brought, they were able to figure out that the journal had passages written in invisible ink, one passage reading that zombies could be defeated by a three-part melody.

So, Mabel got her wish of singing karaoke with Dipper and Stan, and the zombies had been defeated.

 

Dipper was cheering with Stan and Mabel. It was hard not to feel exhilarated when you had just fought of a horde of zombies, and with pop music to boot. Their cheering was, however, interrupted by the sound of clapping. Dipper looked down and saw Bill, leaning against a tree and giving a small applause.

“Nice work, Pines Family!” he cheered at them.

“I’m already beginning to hate him as much as I hate Wendy,” Grunkle Stan grunted annoyed. “I’ll go downstairs and start the clean up.” He crawled back in through the window.

“Hey! Shooting Star! Pine Tree!” Bill called. “Jump down! I’ll catch you!”

“Forget it, Bill!” Dipper yelled back, which was somewhat undermined when Mabel jumped down the roof. “Mabel, no!” Dipper gasped in fear. But Bill apparently used his magic to catch her, as she floated in the air for a couple of seconds, before landing softly on the ground.

“Dipper, it’s alright! Just jump!” she snickered loudly.

“No way! I’m taking the stairs!” Dipper argued and turned away to crawl through the window, when he felt the earth, or maybe just the shack, shake, and he fell down. Instead of being caught by magic, however, Dipper felt two arms catch him and found himself being held by Bill, bridal style.

“Put me down, Bill!” Dipper could feel his cheeks flush and hear Mabel giggling.

“As you wish, Pine Tree,” Bill answered and put Dipper down, gently even. “But, if you ever want me to pick you back up, you’ll just let me know.” Bill gave another of his almost winks.

“As if…” Dipper scoffed.

“Did you see our performance?” Mabel asked excitedly.

“I did! It was quite enjoyable, and I am very impressed by my little pine sapling.” Bill put his arm around Dipper’s shoulder. “He managed to summon an entire army of undead on his very first try! I knew he was talented, but if he gets any better, there’ll be no boundaries for what he can accomplish! And you, Shooting Star,” Bill turned towards Mabel. “You’re showing a lot of strength and initiative for someone so young!”

“Thanks, Bill!”

“Wait, you saw all that? Why didn’t you help us!?!” Dipper accused and pulled himself away from Bill.

“And interfere with your discoveries? Never!”

“Discoveries? What are you talk- The black lights!” Dipper roared. “You knew all this would happen! And you did nothing to stop it!”

“Why would I? Everything turned out fine. I just brought you the tools necessary to succeed, and you did!”

“Hey, dudes?” Soos came out from the shack’s front door, he was still a zombie. “So, Stan’s getting one of his guns right now. I’m not really liking the idea of getting shot in the head. Does any of you have a good idea to, like, maybe cure my zombieism?”

“Don’t worry, Question Mark.” Bill snapped his fingers and his magic turned Soos back to a human.

“Oh, cool.” Soos remarked. “Hey, is that the evil triangle guy? He’s not looking very triangular anymore. Also, he’s kinda not inside someone’s head right now. Unless he’s inside my head, or I’m inside one of you dudes’ head.”

“Long story short,” Dipper explained. “Bill lives in the real world now and works at the shack. And he’s promised not to hurt anyone, except in cases of defending others, as long as we don’t tell Stan that he’s a demon.”

“Oh, okay.” Soos nodded. “Well, see you dudes later.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will be the first completely author written one: Dream Me A Dream.


	3. Dream Me A Dream

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Following the events of Scary-Oke, the Pines Twins are at a shaky truce with Bill Cipher.
> 
> Dipper and Mabel, however, find themselves having horrifying nightmares now.
> 
> Could it be that the dream demon is doing this to them? Or is it something even worse?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Hope you like this chapter:3
> 
> Sorry it took so long, but this chapter is much longer than the previous ones. Mostly because this is the first chapter that isn't a prologue or based on an existing episode.

Dipper was running, trying his damndest to get away from the horrible creature chasing him. It was huge, with long, dark, sticky fur running along its curved back, with many rows of icicle sharp teeth, a wolf –like snout and two glowing, yellow eyes in the middle of its flat face. Its four legs were short, but fast and ended in paws, with claws longer than Dipper’s fingers.

Dipper was panting, nearly crying; it felt like he had run for hours and the creature just continued to hunt him. What didn’t help was that he couldn’t recognize this part of the forest. He was sure this was woods around Gravity Falls, but the place seemed so foreign to him.

Dipper looked back at the beast and saw it prepare to launch at him. Dipper threw himself to the ground, avoiding the monster’s gaping maw, but then he heard a scream that shook him to his core. He looked up and saw the creature, sinking its teeth into Mabel’s chest, her blood spilling into the earth.

“No…” Dipper whispered in disbelief. “No!” he screamed as tears rolled down his face. The beast seemed satisfied with Dipper screams of anguish and ran away, loudly licking its teeth.

Dipper ran to Mabel and cradled her in his arms. “No, no, please, Mabel…” his voice shook with each word.

“Dipper…” Mabel gasped out, blood starting to pour from her mouth and eyes. “Why… why didn’t you save me?”

 

Dipper woke up, tears streaming from his eyes. He looked over to Mabel’s bed; it was empty, except the golden sand, identical to the sand lying in his own bed. He stared at his watch, it was around two thirty.

Dipper got out of bed, knowing it would be impossible for him to fall asleep after that nightmare, and went downstairs. He found Mabel, sitting at the kitchen table, holding a mug of presumably hot chocolate, and looking as shaken as Dipper felt.

She looked up when she saw Dipper come in. “Did you have another nightmare, too?” she asked, flashing Dipper a careful smile.

“Yeah…” Dipper nodded his head. “It’s what? The third time in a row now?”

“He he, I guess maybe we should lay off the mysteries for a while,” Mabel said to try and lighten the mood. “All this sleeplessness can’t be good for us.”

“Mabel,” Dipper looked his sister seriously in the eyes. “I think we both know these nightmares have nothing to do with our adventures. I mean, think about it, what are the odds that the moment we allow a dream demon access to our lives, we start having horrible dreams, every single night?”

“Look, Dipper,” Mabel laid a hand on Dipper’s shoulder. “I know Bill’s a demon, and that he’s the prime suspect and that he’s done some terrible things in the not-so-distant past, but he seems to really like working in the shack and spending time with us. I really don’t think he would want something bad to happen to us.”

“If that’s what you think,” Dipper acknowledged. “But tomorrow, I’m confronting Bill. At least I can try and make him stop pouring sand into our beds.”

 

The next day when the twins walked into the gift shop, still tired from the lack of sleep the last couple nights, when was there to greet them from her seat behind the cash register.

“Hey guys,” she smiled at them, sitting with her muddy boots on the counter and a magazine in hand.

“Wendy, where’s Bill?” Dipper questioned, clearly agitated.

“Oh, he’s outside, doing one of his magic shows for the customers waiting for the next tour,” Wendy replied, pointing her thumb towards the door. “I’m kinda glad Mr. Pines hired him; I’ve had a lot more break time from pretending to work since he got here. Plus, he’s kinda cute.”

“He’s not cute,” Dipper grumbled as he headed for the door.

“What’s wrong with Dipper?” Wendy asked Mabel, putting down her magazine.

“Oh, he’s blaming Bill for his lack of sleep,” Mabel grinned and took a seat on a chair placed in front of the counter.

“Oh!” Wendy exclaimed with a playful smirk. “So that’s why he was so grumpy; His boyfriend’s keeping him up late at night?”

“I dunno,” Mabel shrugged.

 

Dipper walked outside and saw Bill standing in front of a small crowd of tourists, currently receiving applause from a previous trick, no doubt. He was dressed in a way much closer to his demon form, involving a black top hat, a yellow brick-patterned tuxedo coat with black sleeves over a white shirt, with a black bow tie, black dress pants and shoes, and a black cane hooked around his right arm.

“And now,” the demon addressed his audience. “For my next trick, I will need a volunteer!”

“Bill?” Dipper walked up to the demon, ignoring the crowd. “Can I speak with you for a moment?”

“Well, everyone, it seems we have our volunteer!” Bill exclaimed and hooked his cane around Dipper’s neck.

“Bill!” Dipper hissed angrily. “I don’t have time for this! I really need to speak with you!”

“Come on, Pine Tree,” Bill argued with a self assured grin. “Don’t you think these fine folks deserve one last trick? I don’t need you to do anything difficult,” Bill unhooked his cane from Dipper’s neck and instead raised his right arm towards Dipper; Dipper could see a small handkerchief inside Bill’s sleeve. “I just need you to pull this handkerchief out~”

Dipper sighed and began to pull the handkerchief out. Of course, it was tied to another handkerchief, which was tied to another handkerchief and so on and so on.

This kept going until the chain of cloth was about five times as long as Dipper, when suddenly the chain seemed to be stuck. Dipper tried pulling, but it didn’t give out.

“Bill?” Dipper asked confused. “Why is it stuck?”

“Oh, you just need to pull a little harder, Pine Tree,” Bill smirked. So Dipper pulled harder and harder, until the chain finally gave out and Dipper pulled out the last piece of the chain: a pair of black briefs.

“Oh my, Pine Tree, so forward,” Bill laughed. Most of the small crowd roared with laughter and applause, except a couple of mothers who covered their children’s eyes. Bill untied the briefs and stuffed them into the inner pocket on Dipper’s vest. “I’ll get these back later tonight.” Bill gave one of his kinda-winks before shooing of the audience, telling them that the show was over.

“Bill!” Dipper snarled at the demon, his face flushed and his body shaking.

“Thanks for the assistance, Pine Tree!” Bill laughed as he began to leave.

“Bill, this needs to stop!” Dipper yelled and grabbed the demon by the arm and turned him back around.

“Sorry, Pine Tree, but I live for working you up, I’m not gonna stop anytime soon.”

“Not that! The nightmares!”

“’Nightmares’?” Bill asked and looked utterly confused. “What nightmares?”

“Don’t play dumb, Cipher,” Dipper accused him. “I know you’ve been giving me and Mabel nightmares the last nights!”

“Ohoho!” Bill laughed his grin back. “It’s so typical you humans! You have a couple nights bad sleep, and you immediately accuse someone of messing with you, instead of just assuming it’s coincidence!”

“It’s not funny, Bill! Why are you giving me and Mabel nightmares? And why are you putting sand in our beds?”

“Wait,” Bill stopped laughing and got a very serious look in his eyes. “Did you say ‘sand’?”

Before Dipper could answer, Bill grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the shack.

 

Back in the gift shop, Wendy and Mabel were busy taking care of customers that had arrived after their tour was over. A couple of teenagers, presumably siblings, were looking through the t-shirts without putting them back in the right spot, messing the order up, a little girl was crying because she dropped her ice cream, while her mother completely ignored her to talk to someone else, and a bunch of kids were playing tag, running around and bumping into people and things.

Bill pulled Dipper through the gift shop, into the living room.

“Ooh,” Wendy said in a playful tone. “Looks like Dipper and the new guy are off for some fun!”

“If they’re going to do it in our room, I’d better get some of my things so I can sleep over at Candy’s or Grenda’s tonight,” Mabel added and followed the two. “They’ll probably be at it all day with the amount of sexual tension between them.”

 

The first thing Bill did when they arrived in the twins’ bedroom was walking over to the window and started to seemingly examine it.

“Look, guys if you’re gonna have sex up here, at least tell me first so I don’t accidently walk in on you,” Mabel said, walking through the door shortly after them.

“What?” Dipper yelled shocked. “We are not having sex, Mabel! In case you forgot, I can’t stand Bill!”

“Sure you can’t…” Mabel replied sarcastically and rolled her eyes.

“Shooting Star, Pine Tree, be quiet,” Bill said, all usual humor and cheeriness having left his voice. He was seemingly done with examining the window and moved on to Dipper’s bed, picking up some of the sand around the pillow. “There’s no doubt about it,” he continued with a heavy sigh. “You’ve managed to get targeted by a Sandman.”

“A Sandman?” Mabel questioned, cocking her head to the side.

“I haven’t read anything about Sandpeople in the journal.” Dipper said skeptically, crossing his arms.

“Would surprise me if you had, the Author of the journals never encountered one,” Bill responded. “Sandmen are nearly extinct; there’s only around five hundred left, probably much less. There used to be more, back in the ancient times, where their jobs were to punish evildoers with horrifying nightmares.”

“What happened?” Mabel asked. She sat down on her bed and clutched one of her stuffed animals close as she listened to Bill’s story.

“A Sandman encountered a lucid dreamer for the first time,” the demon explained. “The lucid dreamer changed the nightmare into a good dream, and kept it a good dream long enough to kill the Sandman. When the other Sandmen found out, panic ensued. None of them wanted to die, so in an attempt to gain more power, they started going after pretty much everyone; morale people, evil people, adults, children, no one was safe. Each Sandman began choosing one person whose dreams they would haunt, until that person died, usually related to their sleep depravity, and the Sandman would move on to the next person. Unfortunately for them, a lot of people responded to the new surge of nightmares invading their dreams by becoming lucid dreamers themselves, allowing for them to take back control of their dreams and kill the Sandmen.”

“If Sandmen only choose one victim at a time, does that mean there’s two, since both me and Mabel have been having nightmares?” Dipper inquired, he had been sitting beside Mabel on her bed, taking notes in the journal while Bill was talking.

“No, this sand is definitely left by the same Sandman,” Bill told him. “I don’t know why one Sandman is after both of you. Maybe it’s because you sleep in the same room, maybe we’re dealing with a particular overzealous or confident one, or maybe, and most likely, it’s because you’re twins.”

“What does us being twins have to do with it?” Dipper asked quietly.

“I’m sure you’ve both heard the stories about twins’ souls being intertwined, right? Well, those stories are kinda true,” Bill replied. “At least, sometimes they are, as in the case of you and Shooting Star.”

“Really!?!” Mabel burst with excitement. “That’s amazing! Dipper! Did you hear that? Our souls are intertwined!”

Dipper chewed on that for a bit before speaking up again. “Mabel, do you realize what this means?”

“That we’re gonna be together forever, even in the afterlife?” Mabel responded. “That’s what having your souls intertwined means, right?”

“Not about that, Mabel!” Dipper hissed. “I meant the Sandman.”

“Dipper, we don’t even know if Sandmen have a soul,” Mabel pointed out, throwing her hands up in the air.

“No!” Dipper said exasperated. “I meant, we’ll have to become lucid dreamers in order to defeat the Sandman.”

“Not necessarily,” Bill said. He sat down between the twins, putting his arms around their shoulders. “If you’ll allow it, I can enter your dreams and help your dream selves control them.”

“Why should we trust you?” Dipper snarled, trying to free himself from Bill’s grip.

“Come on, Pine Tree! I’m even asking permission! What more do you want?” Bill smirked.

“Yeah, Dipper!” Mabel agreed. “Besides, it can take years to become a lucid dreamer, and we don’t have that much time. Bill’s plan is probably the best course of action.”

“…Fine,” Dipper reluctantly agreed. “Let’s begin now. What exactly is your plan, Bill?”

“Well, it’s very simple, actually,” Bill rose from the bed, clapping his hands, and a big white board appeared on the floor, along with a black marker in Bill’s hand. Bill drew two circles on the board; the left one had a pine tree similar to the one on Dipper’s hat inside it, the right one had a shooting star like the one on Mabel’s favorite sweater. “Now, which one of you does the Sandman usually attack first?”

“Mabel had usually been awake for a while when I wake from the nightmares…” Dipper mumbled.

“Alright,” Bill nodded, showing that he had heard Dipper. “Then, after you have fallen asleep, I’ll enter Shooting Star’s mind first,” he drew a small triangle with an eye inside the right circle, along with a somewhat humanoid figure. “I’ll help her gain control of her dreams, which will most likely drive the Sandman away and into your mind, Pine Tree,” Bill drew an arrow pointing from the right circle to the left one. “Once we’re in your mind, I’ll activate a seal spell, which will trap the Sandman inside, to prevent him from going back to Shooting Star’s mind,” Bill drew the triangle and humanoid figure inside the left circle, along with what looked like a padlock. “Then I’ll assist you in gaining control of your dreams, destroying the Sandman.”

“Wait,” Mabel whispered in a small voice. “You mean, we’ll kill it?”

“Well, yeah, we aren’t exactly inviting it over for tea,” Bill pointed out and rolled his eyes.

“I don’t want to kill it, I mean,” Mabel’s eyes were starting to get a little wet. “I know it’s done terrible things, but does it really deserve to die for it?”

“Shooting Star,” Bill sighed. “Look, you’re a good person, kid, but not all creatures in this world are going to be on the same playing field of niceness as you. This creature is so corrupted that it takes actual pleasure in tormenting others and driving them mad. It literally considers it a job well done when its host eventual croaks because of it. Even if it was possible to chase it away instead of killing it, it would just move on to someone else.”

“I understand… But I don’t like it.” Mabel responded, drying her eyes.

“Alright then, now that that’s taken care of,” Bill said. “Let’s begin.”

 

Pine Tree and Shooting Star were lying down on each of their beds. Bill was sitting on a chair between them. The curtains to the window were drawn and the door to the room was locked.

Bill closed his eyes and felt his consciousness move into Shooting Star’s dream. When he opened his eyes, he almost thought that the apocalypse had broken out; the sky was red, the earth was shaking from multiple earthquakes that left deep holes behind, in the distant a volcano was erupting, only it wasn’t spewing out lava and rocks, but bloody puppy heads, the only sound amidst the chaos was the screams of people that Bill couldn’t see.

Bill ignored the noisy Armageddon and moved through the dream, looking for Shooting Star. It took a while of searching through the ravaged landscape, but he eventually found her, clinging to dear life on the edge of one of the holes caused by the earthquakes.

“I must admit, Shooting Star,” Bill said as he pulled the young woman up. “Your subconscious is a lot more horrifying than I expected.”

Shooting Star’s eyes were filled to the brim with tears and her body was shaking. Her clothes were ripped, covered in blood and dirt, and her hair was a mess.

“Hey, come on, kid,” Bill tried his best at comforting her by giving her a small pat on the shoulder. “None of this is real, it’s just a dream.”

“It’s real to me!” Shooting Star sobbed violently and started to cry.

“Shh~” Bill hushed her and hugged her with one arm. “Listen, kid, I know all this seems real, but if you want to control this dream, you need to admit to yourself that it is just that; a dream.”

Shooting Star’s sobs started to quiet down, as she looked at Bill through the tears in her eyes. “I don’t know how…” she whispered in a helpless voice.

Bill stepped back from her and summoned a drawing pad and wide array of colored pencils. “You just need to focus your thoughts,” he replied and gave the drawing pad and pencils to Shooting Star. “I think these might help you.”

Shooting Star took the objects carefully and began to draw. At first, the change was barely noticeable; a few flowers blossomed up around her, a small bit of the sky cleared, a couple of birds flew over her head, but soon the changes became bigger and they started to rapidly spread. The sky took on colors of the sunset, purple, pink and orange, the ground was healed and filled with beds of beautiful flowers, the sound of screams faded and was replaced with the sound of birdsong.

Bill was looking around, knowing the Sandman would soon leave, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw a pile of amorphous, golden sand slink away.

The demon walked away from Shooting Star, who had left the drawing pad in exchange of petting an army of squirrels, and he approached the Sandman.

“Hey, Sandy,” he called out to the Sandman. “I don’t believe we’ve met.”

The Sandman saw Bill, and started shape shifting into a slightly humanoid figure.

“No,” it answered in an echoic voice that was neither male nor female. “But I assume you’re not just a creation of this girl’s mind?”

“You got that right, Sandy,” Bill replied, crossing his arms. “You happen to address Bill Cipher, Demon Lord of the Mind. Shooting Star and Pine Tree are under my protection; I have big plans for them, and I’m not gonna let you get in my way.”

“Sorry, Cipher,” the creature made a motion like a shrug. “But I like tormenting these two, the boy especially. He’s filled with so much fear and anxiety; it’s delicious!”

“I’m giving you one last chance,” Bill scowled at the Sandman. “Leave the twins alone, or we will destroy you.”

“So you’re the one who taught the girl to control her dreams,” the being stated. “I’m not surprised you managed to help her, but how are you going to help the boy, when you’re the one he’s afraid of?”

A small white portal opened behind the Sandman as it morphed back into a pile of sand and slipped through it; Bill followed.

 

Like his sister’s mindscape, Pine Tree’s was clearly in a nightmarish state, but different from Shooting Star’s; where hers had been loud and catastrophic, an apocalyptic level of destruction, Pine Tree’s was so very quiet.

Bill found himself in a dark forest, similarly to the one in Gravity Falls, but different in a nagging way that almost made his skin crawl; there was no wind, no sound of animals or insects, in fact, the only sound was that of Bill breathing. He went to work immediately and locked down Pine Tree’s mind so that the Sandman couldn’t escape again. Now all he needed to do was find Pine Tree.

It just happened in that moment that Bill picked up on the sound of heavy breathing and running footsteps, before Pine Tree ran into him.

“Bill!” Pine Tree gasped, trying to catch his breath.

“Glad you found me, kid,” Bill smirked. “I was just about to start looking for you, and here you are already a step ahead of me-“ Bill paused as he saw a giant black monster running up from behind Pine Tree. The beast made a motion like it was about to pounce, and Bill grabbed Pine Tree and yanked him away. “Watch out!” the demon yelled.

“No!” the human screamed as Bill pulled him away from the attacking monster, which jumped forward and hit someone that Bill hadn’t seen.

The monster was now leaning over a massacred Shooting Star.

“No, no, no,” Pine Tree sobbed, fighting to get away from Bill and reach his sister. The monster, however, wasn’t done; it turned into black, slimy goo and started forcing itself down Shooting Star’s mouth. “Let me go!” Pine Tree screamed and finally managed to wrestle himself away from Bill and run over to his sister, who was now coughing violently. “Mabel! Mabel, are you alright?” Pine Tree gasped, holding Shooting Star’s body in his arms.

Shooting Star stopped coughing as her eyes rolled into the back of her head, and her body began to peel away, revealing the black slime underneath. The slime started trying to force itself into Pine Tree’s mouth too, but at that moment, Bill took a hold of the wad of goo and pulled it away from the human. He then picked the human up and began carrying him away.

“Mabel… Mabel…” Dipper was sobbing, looking like he hadn’t fully processed what had just happened.

“Look, Pine Tree,” Bill started. “I get that what you just experienced is traumatizing, but you have to remember, this is all a dream, it’s not real.” He didn’t get a reply. Bill sighed and stopped moving. He placed Pine Tree with his back against the trunk of a withered tree. “Pine Tree,” Bill said sternly. “You need to focus! You can’t let that creature win! You have to trust-“

“Yes, Pine Tree, you have to trust me,” Bill was surprised that he got interrupted by his own voice. He turned around and saw a giant version of his demon form, floating a short distance away, getting closer to them. Pine Tree was completely focused on the triangle. “This is what happens when you make truces with demons, kid,” the dream Bill was holding the body of another dream Shooting Star in his hand; she seemed unconscious or maybe dead. “This is all your fault! You were supposed to protect her!”

Pine Tree had begun to cry again. “No! Please, take me instead! It’s my fault! Leave Mabel alone!”

“Pine Tree!” the real Bill snarled. “I told you, this is a dream! That’s not me and that’s not Shooting Star!” When the human was still not listening, Bill fired a ball of energy into the dream Bill.

The dream Bill didn’t react, he merely fired a bigger ball of energy back that hit the real Bill straight in his chest. Bill made a small sound of pain and noticed that Pine Tree was still begging dream Bill to leave his sister and take him instead. Bill leapt over to Pine Tree, grabbed him and teleported them both further away from the dream Bill.

“Argh!” Bill groaned, sitting down in the dead grass of Pine Tree’s mindscape. He saw that the dream Bill’s energy ball had burned some of his clothes and left marks on his skin. Pine Tree was sitting beside him, hyperventilating. Bill realized he would have to use a different tactic, as reminding the human that it was a dream wasn’t helping. “Hey, kid,” Bill whispered softly, he didn’t get a big reaction. “Remember how I said we would trap the Sandman inside your mindscape to kill it?” Still no reaction. “There’s actually a reason why I wanted the last fight with it to take place here. You see, your sister, her thoughts goes in all these different directions, her imagination is astounding, she could easily turn any nightmare into the best dream ever.” Pine Tree’s eyes were beginning to focus a little more. “But she lacks focus. While she could turn her nightmares into pleasant dreams, the Sandman could just as easily turn them back into nightmares, and so on and so forth. You, however, have an amazing focus. It’s nearly impossible to derail your train of thoughts. I realized that it would be harder for you to turn your dreams good, but I knew that once you did it, it would be impossible for the Sandman to corrupt your dreams again before his death.”

Pine Tree was looking at Bill now. He didn’t say anything, but he moved closer to Bill and laid his hands upon the demon’s arms.

“What are you doing, kid?” Bill asked, but not moving away.

“I’m trying to heal you…” Pine Tree whispered, his voice still sore from crying.

“Oh, kid,” Bill smiled wryly. “You don’t have to do that. Like I said, it’s just a dream; once I’m back in the real world, the burns will be gone.”

“I want to help you,” Pine Tree simply answered. Soon, blue light emerged from Pine Tree’s hands. The light swirled from the human to the demon’s wounds, healing them.

“Thanks, kid,” Bill said, swelling with pride at seeing his little sapling using his magic, even in just a dream. “Do you know what to do now?”

“I have an idea.” Pine Tree simply said, before moving away from Bill. He began touching a nearby withered tree; the tree sprung to life as leaves and fruit began blossoming from its branches. He made a sweeping motion towards the sky and the clouds dispelled, revealing a night sky filled with stars. He laid his hands on the ground and the dead grass returned to life, creating a wave of energy that spread from Pine Tree towards the rest of the dreamscape.

As the forest started brimming with life, however, the dream Bill returned, although no longer carrying a Shooting Star.

“Alright, kid,” the dream Bill addressed Pine Tree, sounding a little desperate. “I’m willing to make a deal with you; you stop whatever you’re doing, and your sister won’t be harmed!”

But Pine Tree barely reacted this time; he simply walked towards the dream Bill and made a dismissive motion with his arm, dispelling the dream Bill and revealing the Sandman, cowering away from the human.

“L-look!” the Sandman stuttered. “I really do have your sister! S-she’s- she’s dying? Yeah! She’s dying! And, if you don’t stop this, she’s gonna die!”

Pine Tree looked at the cowering pile of sand and gave a small frown. “My sister is sleeping peacefully in her bed, because you are no longer invading her dreams,” he said. “And now, I’m going to have a good night’s sleep too.”

The Sandman shook before exploding into an array of glittering sand.

Bill smiled. “You got everything under control here, kid?”

Pine Tree looked back at him and gave a small smile in return. “Yeah, I think I’ll do just fine.”

“Great,” Bill nodded before summoning a small portal. “Time for me to return to the waking world. Sweet dreams, Pine Tree.”

 

Bill opened his eyes. He was back in the twins’ bedroom. Both twins were sleeping in their bed with a small smile on their lips. Bill smiled as well, as he summoned a small jar. He waved his hand, and the sand left behind by the Sandman moved from the twins’ beds into the jar. Bill took the jar with him as he left the twins to their rest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hoped you liked it:3
> 
> Since Into the Bunker will be pretty much the same in this version, only Wendy, who's 16 in this AU, doesn't reject Dipper because he's too young, but simply because she doesn't have any romantic feelings for him, so I won't be re-writing that episode for this AU.
> 
> So, next chapter, will be another author-written one: Gizmo and Gadgets.


	4. Gizmo & Gadgets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> (Takes place after the events of Into the Bunker and before the events of The Golf War)
> 
> Soos is having trouble fixing the laptop they found in the bunker; it keeps breaking down, even though it should have been fixed by now. He invites the twins and Bill over to his house to see if they can help him figure out what is wrong with the machine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah! New chapter! Hope you like it:3 Please leave a comment if you want, I love to receive comments!

It had been a couple of days after Dipper and his friends had explored the bunker. Dipper was still feeling a bit sad about getting rejected by Wendy; even though he knew she wasn’t interested in him and didn’t want to date him, a small part of him had still hoped that maybe, someday it would change. But he knew that slowly but surely, he would get over it. As long as Wendy was still his friend, he would get over it.

Dipper was sweeping the floor in the gift shop, Mabel and Soos were restocking, Wendy was on register duty while Grunkle Stan was giving a tour to a small group of tourists; it looked like it would be a slow day.

After Dipper had swept the floor fairly well, he walked over to Soos who was in the middle of humming to himself while shaking a bobblehead.

“Hey, Soos?” Dipper addressed the man. “I was wondering, how’s it going with fixing the laptop?”

“Oh, yeah,” Soos said in realization as he put the bobblehead away. “I’ve been to talk to you dudes about that.” He made a motion for Mabel to come over. “I’ve been trying, but every time it should be fixed, it just breaks down again. I think it might have a pretty hefty, old school virus or something.”

“What are you guys talking about?” Bill showed up from behind Dipper and draped his arms across the human’s body.

“Bill! Get off me!” Dipper protested wrestling away from the demon.

“We were talking about the laptop we found in the bunker,” Mabel explained.

“Oh, right,” Bill nodded. “I still say it’s a waste of time trying to repair it. There are so many other things to explore and experience.”

“How do you know about the bunker and the laptop?” Dipper questioned.

“Shooting Star told me all about it,” Bill replied. “Like how you were attacked by a giant shape shifting monster. A monster that you wouldn’t have had to worry about, if you had brought me along.”

“Forget it, Bill, I still don’t trust you,” Dipper said, crossing his arms.

“Oh, so saving you and your sister from a Sandman wasn’t good enough to earn your trust?” Bill asked incredulously. “And here I thought we were making progress.”

“Look, dude,” Soos addressed Bill. “Maybe your magic can help fix the laptop? It’s worth a shot.”

“Hmm,” Bill pondered. “Okay. I’ll figure out what’s wrong with the laptop, but you’ll have to fix it yourself.”

“We’re coming along,” Dipper insisted. “For all we know, this is all part of some kind of big plot you have been planning out. I’m getting the journal and then we’re leaving.” Dipper left the gift shop and walked towards his and Mabel’s room.

“I’ll follow him and figure out why he’s been such a grumpy pants lately,” Mabel sighed.

 

Mabel entered the room, finding Dipper placing the journal inside his vest.

“Alright, bro-bro,” Mabel demanded. “What’s wrong? I thought after Bill helped us with the Sandman, you would be a little nicer to him, but I think you’re even pricklier towards him than before.”

“You know why!” Dipper insisted, a blush forming across his face.

“No, I really don’t,” Mabel replied, shrugging her shoulders.

Dipper sighed. “Ever since the incident with the Sandman, Bill has been visiting my dreams; I assumed he did it with you too.”

“So?” Mabel asked. “If it bothers you, why don’t you tell him to stop?”

“I did!” Dipper hissed. “But he keeps insisting that he doesn’t do it! That when we were fought the Sandman was the first and only time he entered my mindscape!”

“Well, what does he do in your dreams?” Mabel wondered.

“He-!” Dipper paused and blushed even more.

“Oh~” A wide smile appeared on Mabel’s face. “Sounds like someone’s been having naughty dreams about their new crush~”

“Mabel, no!” Dipper fumed. “It’s not like that! He doesn’t do… that. He just… talks to me, praises me… and sometimes, he… hugs me…”

“Dipper,” Mabel grinned. “It really just sounds like you’ve gotten a crush on Bill.”

“No!” Dipper insisted firmly. “I do not have a crush on Bill! He’s a jerk, he’s a demon, he’s worked with Gideon in the past and he’s invaded Grunkle Stan’s mind!”

“Alright, Dipper, whatever you say,” Mabel sighed, giving up for now. “But still, Bill’s doing or not, could you at least try and be a little more civil towards him?”

“I’ll try,” Dipper relented.

 

Soos led Bill and the twins to his house; when he opened the door, his abuelita was there to greet them.

“Oh, Soos, it’s so nice to have you back,” she said giving Soos a small hug. “And you have brought some of your friends! How wonderful!”

“They’re here to help me fix the laptop we found in the abandoned nuclear bunker!” Soos told her.

“Alright, you kids just make yourselves at home. I’ll come in later with some cookies for you.” After saying that, a fire alarm sounded and black smoke came from the kitchen. It didn’t seem to worry abuelita however, as she strolled into the kitchen at a rather slow pace.

Soos walked to his room, followed by Bill and the twins.

“Question Mark, have you ever heard of a vacuum cleaner?” Bill’s face wrinkled in disgust. “Or a broom?” Soos’ room was fairly messy; a lot of dirty clothes, soda cans and snack bags littered the floor.

“Sorry, dude,” Soos apologized, picking up the laptop which he had placed by his bed. “I usually clean my room on Fridays. Anyway, here’s the laptop, dudes.” The laptop seemed to be in a better condition than when they found it. Soos pressed the power button to turn it on, a small spark of electricity flew out of the laptop’s charge hole and the screen flickered a bit before the computer powered down.

Bill took the laptop from Soos and squinted into the charge hole. “If you want my educated guess…” he started. “I would say there’s a gremlin living inside the laptop.” Bill pulled out small puffs of dark brown fur.

“A gremlin?” Dipper wondered flipping through the pages in the journal. “Wait, there’s an entry about them here! ‘I’ve discovered a small creature who has taken up residence in my radio. Because it keeps destroying the machine, I’ve decided to call it a gremlin. The gremlin seems incapable of speech, aside from some cooing noises, but does apparently understand English-‘”

Dipper was interrupted by Bill, who was now laughing hysterically while writhing on the ground.

“I don’t get it, Bill,” Dipper said confused. “Was there some kind of inside joke hidden in the text or-?”

“He’s just really happy to be along for the adventure, Dipper!” Mabel exclaimed joyously.

“No- hahah! No!” Bill tried to catch his breath. “I’m being attacked- haha! By- hahaha! Body spasms!”

“Body spasms…?” Dipper shook his head in a lack of understanding. Then, a small puff of brown fur, less than half an inch big, with very big eyes, crawled out from Bill’s sleeve. It huffed indignantly before laying its big eyes on Soos and the twins. It made a small noise of panicking before speeding away towards the door. “Get it!” Dipper yelled and dived for the gremlin, but it managed to flatten itself in order to crawl under the door, leading to Dipper flying headfirst into the floor.

“You okay, dude?” Soos asked Dipper as he picked himself off the floor.

“Well, now we know why the laptop kept breaking down,” Bill remarked. “It should be quite easy to fix it now.”

“We gotta catch that thing!” Dipper exclaimed opening the door to Soos’ room.

“But Dipper,” Mabel whined. “It was so tiny and cute! What’s the worst that could happen by letting it go?”

“Mabel! Do you realize how much of our society is based on electronics and machinery?” Dipper marched out of Soos’ room with the other trailing after him. “Who knows what it’s even capable of? What if it breeds asexually and we get a bunch of those things running around? What if it was supposed to be trapped down in the bunker like the shape shifter?”

“Dudes,” Soos began. “If it’s alright with you, I’ll stay back here and work on the computer; I’m still kinda adventured out from our encounter with the shape shifter.”

“Alright, Soos,” Dipper agreed, walking to the front door. “It’s also important that we get the laptop fixed as soon as possible.” He walked out the door, followed by Bill and Mabel. “You know Bill, you can leave too,” Dipper grumbled. Bill, in response, swung his arm over Dipper’s shoulder.

“Nah,” he said with a confident smirk. “I wanna see where this is going.”

Dipper groaned in annoyance, but stopped when he spotted the tiny furball dashing around on the opposite side of the street.

“There it is!” he yelled and ran after it with Bill and Mabel in hot pursuit.

The gremlin gave a small sound of alarm while it continued to flee from the twins and the demon. They chased it around, until the gremlin saw a young woman putting her phone into a shopping bag; the creature jumped over to the woman and hid in her bag.

“Hey!” Dipper called out to her.

“Can I help you?” the woman asked.

“I need to see your bag real fast,” Dipper gasped out, still exhausted from the chase.

“What?” the woman exclaimed.

“Just real quick!” Dipper insisted. “I saw a gremlin crawl into it and-“ Dipper was promptly hit over the head with the bag.

“Yeah, right!” the woman snarled. “You’re one of those big city pickpocketers, aren’t’cha?” the woman underlined her statement with more hits. “Trying to steal from hardworking folks like me!”

“No, I’m not!” Dipper protested, cowering from the woman who just kept hitting him. “Guys! Help!” he called out to Bill and Mabel, who were standing a bit further away.

“No, I actually quite enjoy this,” Bill said with a small, even peaceful smile.

“Me too,” Mabel told Bill. “But we should probably still help him.” Mabel walked over to the woman. “Excuse me, miss?” she started, but the woman began screaming.

“You!” she screeched accusingly. “You’re a gang, aren’t’cha?” she didn’t wait for a reply, she just ran away, still screaming.

Mabel looked at the fleeing woman with a questionable look. “I don’t look like a gang member, do I? I always make a big effort to look friendly and nice.”

“I dunno, Shooting Star,” Bill shrugged. “I guess your sweaters bear a somewhat resemblance to gang jackets.”

“Guys!” Dipper interrupted. “The gremlin’s still in her bag! We need to track her down!”

“But Dipper,” Mabel groaned. “How are we gonna find her now?”

“Well,” Dipper pondered. “Besides for the phone, her bag was empty, and she ran in the opposite direction of the mall, so she is most likely going to the grocery store…”

“Wait,” Mabel interjected. “Her bag was empty aside for a phone, but you still got hurt by her beating you with it?”

“She was obviously very strong!” Dipper protested.

The group ran fast to the grocery store, hoping to find the woman. There weren’t many people there, so it didn’t take them long to spot her. Dipper leapt into action and grabbed the woman’s bag in a flash.

“Argh!” the woman screamed and grabbed the bag as well. “It’s the gang from before! They’re trying to steal my things! Someone help!”

“Listen!” Dipper tried his best to explain. “We’re not a gang! We’re not trying to steal your things! We’re trying to help!”

After a couple of seconds of the woman not letting go of her bag, Bill gave out a frustrated sigh and walked over to where she and Dipper was.

“Excuse me, ma’am,” Bill said, slipping on a charming smile. “What my friend is trying to tell you, is that we saw a terrorist plant a bomb in your bag.”

“Argh!” the woman screeched and let go of the bag, sending Dipper flying to the ground. “Goddamn terrorists! I need to get out of here!”

The woman ran out of the store, followed by many employees and customer who had overheard the conversation.

“How did you know that would work?” Mabel asked the demon.

“That woman was so paranoid, I could’ve told her someone had slipped ebola into her bag, and she would’ve believed,” Bill shrugged.

“Alright,” Dipper fished the cell phone out of the bag and turned it on. It started up just fine; nothing seemed to be wrong with it. “I… I don’t get it…”

“Guess the gremlin gave us the slip,” Bill mumbled. “Oh, well, let’s just go home then.”

“No!” Dipper protested. “I’m not going to give up!” he marched over to automatic doors. “I’m going to find it, no matter wh-“ Dipper was interrupted when the security camera above him, fell down and almost hit his head, before crashing to the floor. Inside the camera, the gremlin crawled out. “Catch it, quick!”

“Dipper,” Mabel whispered. “Let me try something…” she walked slowly over to the creature; it was shaking in fear and looking like it would bolt at any minute. Mabel crouched down and gave it a soft smile. “Hi, little guy, sorry we scared you…” The gremlin stopped shaking and watched Mabel with its big eyes. “We’re sorry we took you away from your home. We didn’t know you were in that laptop… If you want, we can take you back to the bunker, would you like that?”

The gremlin moved in a way similar to a nodding head. It ran to Mabel, crawled up her leg and settled on her shoulder.

“How did you know that would work?” Dipper wondered.

“Well, I remembered how the journal said these creatures could understand human speech,” Mabel pointed out. “And besides, it didn’t act like some evil mastermind like the shape shifter, it acted like a scared animal.” 

 

The trio brought the gremlin back to the bunker. While Dipper was taking the gremlin to its new home, Bill got a look at the shape shifter, frozen in the tube, in the shape of a horrified Dipper.

“It said that if Dipper continued to look for the author,” Mabel explained to Bill in a somber tone. “That would be the last form he would take.”

“No,” Bill said quietly, with a serious expression. “It won’t. I’ll make sure of that.”

Bill walked over to Dipper, who had been too far away to have heard the exchange, Mabel followed suit.

“So, you can pretty much go into every single electronic here,” Dipper explained to the gremlin. “Except for the control panel. You see, the control panel is what’s keeping the shape shifter frozen, and if it breaks, the shape shifter might get out.”

The gremlin answered with a series of cooing and more of its nodding-like motion.

“Take good care of yourself, okay?” Dipper gave it a small smile. The twins and the demon soon thereafter left the bunker.

“Well, this has been an adventure,” Mabel said stretching. “I think I’ll… run ahead and… give you two some space to talk…”

“Mabel!” Dipper snarled, his face flushed, but she had already sped off towards the shack. “Urgh!”

“Is…” Bill began, sounding confused. “Is there something you want to tell me, Pine Tree?”

“No, it’s just,” Dipper gave another groan. “This whole day has been awful! It’s just been one of those days where nothing goes right, and now this happens!”

“What?” Bill questioned, actually looking completely stumped to Dipper’s surprise.

“All this!” Dipper yelled, motioning between the two. “First, you’re a complete jerk, taking pleasure in tormenting me! Then, you help me save me and Mabel’s sanity from a sand monster, and I think, hey, maybe you actually care about me! And immediately, the next day, you’re back to teasing me and driving me insane!”

“Oh, Pine Tree,” Bill smiled. “Is that all? Of course I care about you and Shooting Star; you’re the two most entertaining humans I’ve met the last couple millennia.”

“Is that really all we are to you?” Dipper asked quietly. “Just toys for your entertainment?”

Bill’s smile fell. He quickly turned around and crossed his arms.

“Listen, Pine Tree,” he answered in a equally soft tone. “I’m a demon. Feelings aren’t exactly my strong suit. Believe what you wish about me.” At that, the demon teleported away, leaving Dipper behind in the forest.

 

Bill reappeared back in the motel room he had rented out. He had been forced to find a place to stay, since his new body still required food and sleep, albeit less than the average human, but he hadn’t wanted anything permanent like a house or an apartment. After all, this whole situation was only temporary.

He pulled out a beaker that had some of the gremlin’s fur in it, and he placed besides the glass holding the sand from the Sandman. He already had two ingredients needed. Hopefully, he would be finished before the end of summer, but it didn’t matter if it did take longer. He was in no need to hurry; even if the twins left, they would most likely be back next summer, but he would prefer to have it finished this year.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oooh, the plot thickens it seems!
> 
> Next chapter will be a rewrite of Sock Opera! I won't rewrite The Golf War, because the thing that starts the plot is a family trip to play minigolf, and Bill isn't considered part of the Pines family, YET.


	5. Sock Opera

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now that Dipper and Mabel have the laptop, they discover that a password is needed to access it. Dipper tries to figure it out, but Mabel can't help him, when she is forced to make a puppet show to impress her crush of the week. And where does Bill fit into all of this?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had not thought this chapter would be this long, but I am immensely happy with how it turned out and had a lot of fun writing it. Hope you enjoy reading it!

The day after the whole mini golf catastrophe, the twins were at the library, ready to finally unlock the laptop’s secrets.

“Alright, Mabel,” Dipper said, fishing the laptop out of his backpack. “Today is the big day.”

“Big day!” Mabel cheered, throwing her hands in the air.

“Soos finally fixed up the laptop. If this thing works, we could learn the identity of the author and unravel the greatest mysteries in Gravity Falls. You ready?”

“Oh, I’m ready, baby,” Mabel agreed decisively, holding up a pop-up book called “Ready Baby?”, opening the book, causing it to play a sound clip of a baby saying “Mama”. “By the by, bro-bro, why did we go to the library for this?” Mabel asked, putting the book away.

“To get away from Bill and keep the laptop as far away from him as possible!” Dipper asserted, placing the laptop on the table they were sitting by.

“You two still haven’t made up?” Mabel questioned. “Dipper, it’s not healthy to keep all your passionate feelings inside!”

“I have no ‘passionate feelings’ for Bill!” Dipper protested, turning on the laptop. “He’s a jerk.”

The laptop was starting up, but the twins only got a glint of what it contained, before it asked them for an eight-digit password.

“Of course! A Password!” Dipper groaned in frustration.

“Don’t you worry, bro-bro,” Mabel said, throwing her arms over her brother’s shoulders. “With your brains and my laser-guided focus, there’s literally nothing that can distract us from-“ Mabel paused when she heard music. “Did you hear that?”

The twins looked over to the Children’s Corner, and saw a young boy around their age, doing a puppet show for a bunch of kids. Mabel pulled her book back up and opened to a pop-up of a heart, while making her own ‘ba-bump’ sounds.

“Oh, boy…” Dipper remarked in a worried tone.

“Just when I was getting over Mermando,” Mabel sighed, starring wistfully at the puppeteer. “Of course you show up at my doorstep…”

“Oh yeah, I forgot about Mermando,” Dipper grumbled, looking through the library books, trying to find one that could help them with the passwords. “Did not care for Mermando…” He picked one up and walked back over to Mabel. “Okay, this cryptology book says there are seven-point-two million eight letter words,” He remarked while looking through the book. “I’ll type, you read, ‘kay Mabel?” When Dipper didn’t get an answer he looked up and saw that his sister was gone. “Mabel?” He then saw her over at the Children’s Corner, presumably flirting with the puppeteer. “Damnit Mabel…” he sighed, but went to work himself.

First he tried “abnormal” which didn’t work, then “weirdest”, then “stalking”, “scariest”, “vampires”, “boogyman”, “authored”, “journals” and finally “password”.

Dipper sighed deeply before noticing Mabel shuffling up behind him. “So, how’d go?” he asked, mostly uninterested.

“Dipper,” Mabel began carefully. “How hard do you think it would be to write and compose a sock puppet, rock-opera with lights, original music and live pyrotechnics by Friday?”

“What?” Dipper exclaimed. “Mabel, are you serious?”

“I don’t know what happened!” she screamed, grabbing Dipper by his shirt. “I got lost in his eyes, and his ponytail, and I’m gonna be so embarrassed on Friday if I don’t have anything!”

“What about cracking this password?” Dipper questioned her, gesturing to the laptop. “You know, ‘Mystery Twins’?”

“If you help me with this for just a couple of days, I promise I’ll help you with the password!” Mabel begged. “Please! Pretty please! It’s for love, Dipper~”

“Alright, okay,” Dipper relented. 

“Yes!” Mabel screamed, wrapping her arms around her brother. “Thank you! This guys!” she continued to cheer, pointing to Dipper. “He’s number one!”

 

Back at the shack, the twins began work on the puppet show, having bought supplies on the way home.

“Mabel, shouldn’t we write a script, before we begin working on the puppets?” Dipper asked her.

“No need, Dip-Dop,” Mabel declared confidently. “I already have the entire thing figured out! I know exactly what we need; we need a Mabel-Puppet, a Gabe-Puppet, a Grunkle Stan-Puppet, a Wendy-Puppet, a Soos-Puppet, oh! And of course a Dipper-Puppet! And many more!”

“And what are you two saplings up to?” Bill walked into the living room through the door to the gift shop. “I missed you two this morning, especially you, Pine Tree~”

“We’re gonna make a sock puppet rock-opera!” Mabel cheered happily.

“Really?” Bill sounded confused, before his face slipped back into a casual smirk. “I thought you would be on the laptop, trying to solve some mysteries.”

“Yeah, well, the laptop needed a password, Bill,” Dipper said trying to sound as dismissive as possible. “So at the moment, I’ll have to put it on stand-by while I help Mabel with this.”

“Hmm, I suppose that is for the best,” Bill shrugged. “You want any help with the puppets?”

“Yeah, of course!” Mabel nodded enthusiastically. “We need all the help we can get; we need to be finished by Friday!”

“We could actually need your help,” Dipper reluctantly agreed. “Can you use your magic to make a bunch of sock puppets?”

“Pine Tree,” Bill gave a small sigh. “My powers are severely limited in this dimension; my magic isn’t as powerful here as in the Mindscape.”

“Why?” Mabel asked curiously, already working on a puppet. “Is it because of your human body?”

“No, it’s because of this plane of existence,” Bill tried to explain. “See, all dimensions and planes each have their own laws, like gravity and such; magic is, essentially, the ability to bend those laws to your own will. The Mindscape has practically no laws and is therefore easy to manipulate. Around here, however, I can’t simply just make things appear out of the thin air; I can summon things, if I know where they are, but otherwise…”

“Oh, well, thanks for helping the human way then!” Mabel replied.

 

Dipper stayed up late that night, the next night and the night after that, working on the password for the laptop, each time first falling asleep around 4 am or later, and he had to get up early every day to help Mabel with her puppet show. At least they had made great progress; they had even managed to get help from Wendy and Soos too.

Mabel was in the middle of explaining the plot of the play.

“Alright,” she said, barely holding back her excitement. “The play is going to be called ‘Glove Story: A Sock Opera’! Just a warning, people’s eyes will get wet, ‘cause they’ll be crying… From laughing! From how tragic it is…”

“Yeah, that sounds great,” Dipper grumbled, not really paying attention as he was too busy trying to get a sock puppet that had accidently been glued to his face off.

“Let me help you with that, Pine Tree,” Bill said, promptly ripping the puppet off with a swift motion.

“Argh!” Dipper yelped, rubbing his cheek. “That hurt, Bill!”

“Aww, do ya want me to kiss it better?” Bill smirked and Dipper replied with a smack on his shoulder.

Grunkle Stan walked by living room on his way to the kitchen, took one look at the many puppets and props and simply said: “Not even gonna ask,” before walking back where he came from.

 

It was the night before the premiere and Mabel was getting ready to get to bed early. She had many of her puppets lying with her in her bed.

“Goodnight, my babies,” she cooed happily, before taking the Gabe puppet on her hand and making it give the Mabel puppet a kiss. “Soon, Gabe Benson,” she whispered. Mabel was, however, disturbed from her soon-to-be sleep, by the laptop making its alarm, telling Dipper that the password was wrong.

“Urgh! Wrong password! Wrong! Wrong!” he groaned frustrated.

“Don’t stay up all night, Dipper,” Mabel warned him. “Last time you got this sleep deprived, you tried to eat your own shirt.”

And Dipper was, indeed, chewing on his shirt, which he first realized at that moment.

“Bleh!” Dipper spit his shirt out of his mouth. “Just a few more tries…” he insisted.

“Well, Dipper, if you’re going to continue for a little while longer to crack the password, could you please take it somewhere else?” Mabel asked him as sweetly as possible. “It’s a really big day for me tomorrow, and I want to be well rested when Gabe shows up backstage after the show, and he confesses his undying love for me!”

“Sure, Mabel, no problem,” Dipper replied with a small smile. He took the laptop with him out of the room and moved to the roof.

 

On the roof, Dipper tried more passwords, but none of them worked.

“Argh!” he cried out. “Why don’t any of these work? Why is this so hard?”

“You having trouble, Pine Tree?” Dipper turned around and saw Bill standing behind, leaning against the house, with a small smile on his lips.

“Yeah,” Dipper sighed. “I’ve been trying so hard these last couple days to find the password for the laptop, but because I’ve had to help Mabel with her puppet show, I have barely had any time at all to figure it out.”

“Judging from those bags under your eyes, you haven’t been sleeping a lot either,” Bill pointed out as he sat himself down besides Dipper.

Dipper made a noise of agreement. “I’m really tired,” he said. “But I can’t give up! I have to keep trying! Sooner or later, I’ll find the password!”

“That’s what I love about you, Pine Tree,” Bill said as he put an arm around Dipper, pulling him close to Bill’s chest. “Once you decide to do something, you always follow through…”

“Bill?” Dipper’s face flushed red.

“Truly a great example of humanity’s will and persistence,” Bill continued, using his other hand to stroke Dipper’s face.

“S-sorry, Bill,” Dipper stuttered and pulled back, rising up and walking away from Bill. “I shouldn’t do this… Where is all this even coming from?”

“What do you mean, Pine Tree?” Bill asked, advancing towards Dipper.

“You’re acting differently,” Dipper explained. “You haven’t even insulted me yet, unless what you said were insults disguised as compliments.”

“Come on, Pine Tree, I might tease you, but I don’t insult you,” Bill replied. He backed the human into wall, placing both arms on each side of Dipper. “I really like you, Pine Tree~”

A flash of light shined, momentarily blinding Dipper.

“Hey, Pine Tree, what are you-“ another Bill had popped up and looked at the scene before. “Geez, kid, no wonder you’re so angry with me,” he said and snapped his fingers. The first Bill exploded in a cascade of dust and Dipper was utterly confused. “Still dreaming about me trying to hurt you? Can’t say I blame ya for being so mad at me!”

“Bill, what’s going on?” Dipper asked.

“Isn’t it obvious, Pine Tree? You fell asleep! I found you on the roof!” Bill replied stepping closer to him.

“What were you doing in the shack?” Dipper yelled angrily.

“I was staying late to help with the props, remember?” Bill pointed out. “You really are sleep deprived…” Bill shook his head. “I was looking for you to tell you goodbye for today and found you, so I decided to pop in and ask why you were sleeping on the roof.”

“I wasn’t supposed to fall asleep, I was working on the password for the laptop,” Dipper explained, rubbing his temples.

“Right, you were holding the laptop, but I thought you and Shooting Star had put that on stand-by while working on the show,” Bill addressed.

“Mabel did, I didn’t,” Dipper turned away from Bill. “I need to wake up, I need to get back to work on the passwords.”

“Listen, kid,” Bill laid his hands on Dipper’s shoulders. “You’re obviously sleep deprived and stressed. Since Mabel won’t help you out, how about I give a hand?” Bill offered, his hands flying off his arms, “In fact, we could even make a deal,” the hands pushed Dipper into Bill’s arms, both of which had regrown their hands, making them more than capable of grabbing Dipper.

“No!” Dipper managed to wrestle away from Bill. “I’m not interested in anymore deals, Bill!” Dipper had, however forgotten about the loose hands, as they pushed him right back into Bill’s chest, the resulting hit, managed to send Dipper to the floor.

“Alright, then, Pine Tree,” Bill smirked, looking down at Dipper. “But if you ever change your mind, I’ll be here for you, ready to make a deal… Hey, wanna hear my impression of you in about three seconds? Aaarrggghhh!!!”

“Aaarrggghhh!!!” Dipper screamed as he woke up. He looked to the side and saw Bill sitting beside him, smirking at him.

“Remember, Pine Tree,” Bill said, jumping down from the roof, landing gracefully at the ground below. “I’m always open for a deal!”

 

The next morning, Dipper walked downstairs into the kitchen, noticing that Mabel and Stan were already there. Dipper hadn’t slept last night after he’s talk with Bill; he was too afraid that Bill would enter his dreams again.

“Hey, Mabel,” Dipper greeted his sister absently when he walked in, punctuating his sentence with a yawn.

“Whoa, bag check for Dipper’s eyes!” Stan joked, but realized quickly that no one laughed. “Nobody?” he asked.

“Dipper, I told you to get some sleep last time,” Mabel scolded her brother, but in a very soft spoken voice. “Here,” she offered him a giant blender filled with a reddish pink, glittery liquid. “Wake up with some Mabel-Juice. It has plastic dinosaurs in it~”

“It’s like if coffee and nightmares had a baby,” Stan remarked, remembering the one small taste Mabel had given him.

Dipper, however, ignored the offered drink completely, and ushered Mabel out of the kitchen into the hallway.

“Mabel, listen,” he whispered to avoid Stan overhearing them. “Last night, I had a dream with Bill in it.”

“Another one?” Mabel questioned. “I’m telling you, Dipper, this is just what happens when you’re filled with repressed emotions.”

“No, not like that!” Dipper blushed. “Well, also that, but I’m talking about the real Bill! He said he’d give me the code to the laptop if I made a deal with him.”

“So, what did you do?” Mabel asked curiously.

“I told him no, of course!” Dipper replied. “Like I’d actually trust Bill, right?”

“I think he’s proven himself plenty trustworthy,” Mabel pouted. “But don’t worry bro! Today’s the day that the Mystery Twins are back in action! I’ll help you crack that code! I just gotta hand off my puppet stuff to my production crew.”

“Production crew?” Dipper asked.

“Yeah! Candy and Grenda!” Mabel replied just as the doorbell rang. “That must be them!”

And indeed it was. They arrived along with Soos and Wendy, who immediately went to work, loading things into and onto Stan’s car.

“We read the script, very emotional,” Candy told them.

“I cried like eight times!” Grenda added.

“Hey, ladies~” someone said. The gang turned and saw that it was Gabe, roller skating and still wearing his puppets on his hands.

“Gabe!” Mabel nearly screamed in excitement.

“I was just bladin’ by,” Gabe replied, removing his helmet. “Helps me dry out my ponytail after a shower.” He swung his hair around, as if he was in a shampoo commercial.

“Hubbity-Bubbity!” Grenda exclaimed.

“매이블이 한테 개이브을 훔쳐하겠다.” Candy whispered, sounding a bit sinister.

“It’s so great to see you!” Mabel smiled widely as she ran up to the puppeteer. “I was just working on the world’s greatest puppet show! It has puppets!”

“Your passion is so refreshing, Mabel,” Gabe answered her. “Unlike the girl from last night’s puppet show. Single stitch on one puppet, and cross stitch on the other; I was like, ‘uh-uh’!”

“… Cross-huh?” Mabel said slowly sounding very confused.

“Naturally I deleted her off my cell phone contacts list,” Gabe continued, having evidently not heard Mabel.

“Naturally!” Mabel laughed awkwardly. 

“I know you won’t let me down though,” Gabe assured her. “Based on what you said the other day, you must be a puppet expert.”

“You know, Gabe,” Grenda started. “You look pretty sweaty! You should really take your shirt off!... Right? Aren’t we all thinking that?”

“Later, ladies~” Gabe apparently chose to ignore Grenda’s remark as he skated away.

“Gaaww!!!” Mabel yelled when Gabe was out of sight. “We’ve gotta up our game, girls! Did you hear that thing he said about the stitches!?!”

“Don’t worry, Mabel!” Grenda reassured her. “Your crew can handle it!” she picked up a puppet of herself and accidently ripped it into pieces. “Oops…”

“How many eyes does a face have again?” Candy asked, holding up a blue puppet with at least a dozen eyes.

Meanwhile, Soos and Wendy were trying to load a big mountain of props onto the car. “I got it… I got it…” he said carefully, but fell down with a big “oof” . “I’m not okay!” he yelled, lying under all the props.

“Argh!” Mabel was beginning to panic. “Okay, I’m back on fabrication.” She picked up one of the boxes and ran towards the shack. “Get me my lint roller!”

“Whoa, hey!” Dipper grabbed her by the shoulder. “You just said you were going to help me!”

“Dipper! This sock crisis just bumped up to code argyle!” Mabel argued. “The laptop can wait!”

“Mabel, do you seriously think that your random crush of the week is more important than uncovering the mysteries of this town?” Dipper asked her. “You’re obsessed!”

“I’m obsessed? Look at you!” Mabel countered. “You look like a vampire! And not the hot kind.”

“But you said you were gonna help me today!” Dipper protested.

But Mabel had already run back to the shack.

“Okay, fine!” Dipper yelled after her. “You know what? I’ll do it on my own!”

 

Dipper went back to the roof to pick up the laptop, in his sleep deprived state, he had forgotten it there.

“Stupid Mabel…” Dipper grumbled under his breath. He couldn’t believe that she would rather spend time on a dumb puppet show rather than help him. He was always there for her! He had even helped her with said puppet show, even though he couldn’t care less! Dipper yawned, he was feeling very light-headed from his lack of sleep and, now that he remembered it, lack of breakfast.

As he was walking towards the couch on the attic, to once again begin his pursuit of typing random words into the laptop, hoping it would be the password, he light-headedness became so severe, that he black out for a couple of seconds. When he came to, he found the laptop under him, smashed into pieces from his weight.

“No…” Dipper whispered in disbelief. “No! All my hard work!”

“Well, well, well,” a voice sounded. Dipper turned his head towards the stairs and saw Bill walking towards him. “Someone’s looking desperate~”

“Bill!” Dipper yelled accusingly. “You caused this, didn’t you?”

“Yeesh, kid, I’m not at fault for every single thing that goes wrong in your life!” Bill walked up behind Dipper and placed his hands on the human’s shoulders. “But now might be a good time to reconsider making a deal.”

“What do you want?” Dipper asked carefully, Bill smiled at him.

“Here’s the deal, Pine Tree,” Bill began. “I’ll lead you and Shooting Star in the right direction, and I’ll even tell you the password for the laptop, free of charge! All I want in exchange is for Dipper Pines to go to his sister’s show.”

“You just want me to see Mabel’s show?” Dipper questioned. The whole deal sounded too good to be true.

“I’ve always been of the mind that the two of you should never fight like you’ve done today,” Bill replied cryptically. He quickly turned Dipper around to face him and stuck out his right hand which was already flaring up in blue fire. “What do you say?”

“... Alright, deal,” Dipper relented and took Bill’s hand. He had barely done so, before he felt the world move around him in a way that he hadn’t felt before. Actually, come to think of it, he had felt a similar sensation before, this very summer.

Dipper had closed his eyes during the sudden shift and opened them to find him staring at himself.

“What…?” he whispered in confusion, but was surprised to find it wasn’t his voice that said it.

“Surprised, Pine Tree?” the Dipper in front of him asked with a smirk on his face.

“Bill?” Dipper was beyond confused, not helped by his sleep deprivation. Bill had changed their bodies, but why?

“Hey, Dipper!” Mabel voice rang from downstairs. “I borrowed your journal to use as a prop in the show I hope you don't mind I'm gonna go before you process this sentence okay, bye!”

“Mabel!” Dipper called and tried to run to the stairs, but he was grabbed by Bill.

“Oh, no, you don’t, Pine Tree,” Bill said. “I believe it’s about time you get some well-deserved rest~” Bill snapped his (Dipper’s) fingers, and Dipper was suddenly overcome with a massive wave of sleepiness. He tried to fight it off, but it seemed his sleep depraved had followed him into Bill’s body and he simply didn’t have enough energy to resist rest at this point.

Pine Tree fainted, having been overcome with Bill’s spell. The demon was happy he had unlocked Pine Tree’s magical potential, so that he at least still had some powers. Bill caught the body before it could hit the ground, but with Pine Tree’s noodle arms, it was much harder, than he had thought, to carry the human to bed.

“You just stay there and sleep, Pine Tree,” Bill whispered, stroking his vessel’s forehead, he was disappointed when he saw and remembered that Pine Tree no longer had his birthmark. “With a bit of luck, I’ll be done before you wake up,” Bill assured the sleeping form and left.

 

“Hey Sho- Mabel!” Bill called out.

“I’m in the living room, Dipper!” Mabel yelled back. Bill went into the living room and found Mabel, Candy and Grenda in the middle of going over all the puppets. “Did you figure out the password?” she asked him.

“Actually, I decided it could wait,” Bill replied with a small smile. He had to make a big effort to make sure it didn’t look too cocky. “I thought, hey, my sister really needs right now, what kind of brother would I be if I didn’t help her?”

“Thanks, Dipper,” Mabel told him. “We really need all the help we can get with the finishing touches!”

“Great! Once we’re done, can I ride with you to the theater?” Bill asked, picking up the Dipper Puppet. “I really don’t want to miss the show~”

 

Dipper woke with a start, at first completely unaware of what had transpired. However, he quickly remembered everything once he got out of bed and saw he was still in Bill’s body.

“Oh, no,” Dipper muttered. “How long was I asleep?” he began to panic, running out of his and Mabel’s room and down the stairs. He could see out the windows that the sun was setting, meaning that Mabel’s play hadn’t begun yet.

“Hey, Bill,” Dipper turned around and saw that it was Wendy who had addressed him. “Me and Soos are going to Mabel’s show now. I know you said you didn’t wanna come, but I thought, maybe you changed your mind?”

“Wendy!” Dipper said. “It’s me, Dipper! Bill shifted bodies between us, and I think he might be trying to steal the journal!” he tried to channel all his worry and anxiety into Bill’s voice, hoping it would help Wendy and Soos recognize him.

“Really, dude?” Soos asked. “Did he use that changing-carpet we found?”

“No, he just used his magic, I think,” Dipper replied, shaking his head.

“This is kinda weird,” Wendy remarked. “I do have one way we can tell if this really is Dipper.” Wendy continued in a vague tone.

Dipper immediately caught onto what she meant, and answered with Wendy’s trademark Lock-Mouth-Throw-Away-The-Key motion.

“Alright, that settles it, it’s Dipper,” Wendy declared. “If Bill’s going to steal the journal, we need to get you to the Theater.”

 

When the three of them arrived, they ran as fast as they could towards the Backstage. Unfortunately, the bouncer, Tats, from the Skull Fracture, was apparently hired to guard the door to Backstage.

“Hey!” he told them. “No one is allowed in, unless they’re a part of the play.”

“We’re totally a part of the play!” Dipper insisted. “We helped make the puppets and the props!”

“Are you on the list?” Tats asked.

“Do you even have a list?” Wendy asked him.

“No,” Tats replied. “That’s why nobody gets in. Now, take your seats, or I will be forced to take you to them.”

The three of them moved away, dejectedly.

“What do we do?” Soos wondered. “If Bill gets a hold of the journal, everything’ll be over!”

“Soos, calm down!” Wendy snapped. “We just need to figure out another way inside! Dipper, if you have Bill’s body now, does that mean you have his powers?”

“I don’t know,” Dipper answered her. “Maybe?”

“Do you know if Bill has some kind of spell or something that can get us inside?” she asked him.

“Wait a second,” Dipper said in realization. “Bill can teleport! If I do have his powers, I should be able to teleport backstage!”

“Try it, dude!” Soos told him. “And maybe if you touch us while you do it, you can bring us along too!”

“I don’t know, Soos, I think that might be too complicated for me,” Dipper explained. “It could go horrible wrong if I try it with more people…”

“Alright, Dipper,” Wendy relented. “We’ll be in the audience. Good luck.”

Dipper looked at Soos and Wendy leaving to find their seats, and presumably Grunkle Stan who had gotten there early to find a good seat so that he could tape Mabel’s play.

Dipper concentrated, remembered the bit of directions Bill had given about magic, he allowed his magic to flow through his very soul and willed himself to teleport just a couple of feet to get to the backstage.

He heard a gasp and opened his eyes to find himself inside a dressing room. He turned around and saw Mabel who was staring at him with wide eyes.

“Bill!” she screamed accusingly. “Why did you teleport into my dressing room!?! I could’ve been actually undressed for all you know!”

“Mabel, I’m not Bill! It’s me, Dipper!” Dipper frantically explained.

“What!?!” Mabel exclaimed. “Look, Bill, I don’t know what this is about, but if you’re looking for Dipper, he’s inside his own dressing room; he agreed to be the reverend for the wedding scene in act 2!”

“That’s what you needed the journal for!?!” Dipper yelled.

“Yeah, how did you know?” Mabel asked him.

“Because Bill changed bodies with me to get the journal!” Dipper roared.

“You’re telling me, that Bill changed bodies with you, all in order to steal the journal? How can I know you’re telling the truth? If you’re actually Bill and you want the journal, wouldn’t this be exactly what you’d tell me?”

“How can I convince you that I’m Dipper?” he questioned her.

“Hmm…” Mabel pondered. “Well, Dipper recently informed me that he had been having sex dreams about Bill.”

“No, I didn’t!” Dipper protested, his face flushing red. “I just told you I had dreams where we… hugged and stuff…”

“Alright, you’re Dipper,” Mabel said satisfied. “The journal is inside the wedding cake, but I’m not going up there until Act 3. The plan is that most of Act 3 is a flashback to Gabe’s time in the war, symbolizing his post-traumatic stress disorder and telling the audience how he lost his legs trying to disarm a bomb to save an orphanage. Then, Gabe and Grunkle Stan will get into a fight, because Grunkle Stan doesn’t think Gabe is good enough for me, but Gabe will prove how much he loves me by proposing! And then-“

“Mabel, you don’t have to give me the entire story line,” Dipper interrupted her. “But what if Bill gets up there and steals it? Can’t your play wait?”

“Dipper, if you’re really that worried about the journal, you can go up there and get it, but I’m needed here.”

Dipper groaned in frustration and left the room. Dipper looked for the wedding cake prop, but he had a hard time finding it and everyone was so busy with the play that they wouldn’t tell him where it was.

Eventually, the first two acts were over, but Dipper finally managed to spot the wedding cake prop. Turned out, it had been outside the backstage hanging on a rope tied to the catwalk the whole time. Dipper slapped himself in frustration, but began climbing up, hoping that Bill hadn’t already snatched the journal.

“Hi!” a voice sounded from behind him. He gave a small yelp, turned around and saw it was Mabel.

“I thought you were busy with your show?” Dipper said sarcastically.

“Yes, but as I told you before, I gonna be in the cake in Act 3, look!” she showed him a puppet made of her wearing a wedding dress. “It’s for the wedding!”

“I just hope we aren’t too late…” Dipper whispered, continuing to climb up to the catwalk. They both ran over to the cake prop, and saw that the journal was still laying there. “Yes!” Dipper cheered.

“Alright, Dipper,” Mabel told him. “I’ll climb into the cake and hand you the journal; guess the wedding’s have to do without a bible,” she shrugged. Mabel climbed into the cake, Dipper waiting with outstretched arms for the journal.

“Pine Tree?” Dipper turned around and saw Bill, or, well, himself, standing on the catwalk, dressed in a reverend outfit. “I thought you would’ve slept longer… oh, well,” he remarked, immediately diving towards Mabel who was still holding the journal. The sudden added weight caused the rope that held the prop up to snap. Dipper reacted quickly and grabbed the rope, doing his best to pull the prop up, but it was hard, since Bill and Mabel were fighting in the prop, Mabel was even hitting Bill using the journal.

“You have to stop moving around!” Dipper told them. “I’m losing my grip!” In that moment, however he did lose his grip, and Mabel and Bill, along with the prop, fell to the stage.

Mabel recovered from the fall first and Dipper hurried down to help her with Bill. Mabel moved away from Bill, holding the journal protectively to her chest.

“You’re never getting this journal!” Mabel yelled at Bill.

“What?” Bill asked incredulously. “I’m not trying to get the journal!”

“What!?!” Dipper exclaimed, running onto the stage.

“If I wanted that journal, I would’ve gotten it weeks ago!” Bill explained.

“Then why did you do all this?” Mabel inquired.

“Because of you!” Bill pointed accusingly towards Mabel. “In your obsession with this whole puppet business, you abandoned Pine Tree when he needed you the most! He has always been there to sacrifice his own desires for your sake! And the one time he asks you to do the same, you leave him behind!”

“That’s not true, Bill!” Dipper yelled, making a move to grab Bill, but he was interrupted by Mabel:

“No, he’s right, Dipper,” she said. “You gave up your chance to be with Wendy so I could have Waddles, and you lost your lifeguard job, so that I could help Mermando get home… Dipper, I’m so sorry…”

“It’s okay, Mabel,” Dipper answered. “You might not always be there for me, but you’re there when it really matters; I know I can always count on you. And I did things wrong too; I was so obsessed with solving with the password as fast as possible, that I lead it affect my health…”

“I’m glad to hear that, Pine Tree,” Bill told him.

“So, this was what you meant by putting me and Mabel back on the right track?” Dipper asked.

“Actually, it was,” Bill replied.

“I guess there are worse outcomes this could’ve resulted in,” Dipper remarked. “Bill? Can we change back now?”

“Sure thing, Pine Tree,” Bill said and grabbed Dipper’s hand. The same feeling of the world moving around him happened again and Dipper soon found himself inside his own body.

“Did it work?” Mabel asked.

“Yes!” Dipper yelled happily. “I’m in my own body! And it’s… just as underwhelming as I remember…”

“Hey, I like your body,” Bill smirked at him, putting his arm around Dipper’s shoulders. “Oh, and by the way Pine Tree, the password was ‘triangle’.”

“… What?” Dipper paused with a questionable expression.

“Well, I for one am ready for the big finish!” Mabel interrupted them. She pulled out a big remote with a red button on it. “I’m sorry, Gabe,” she whispered before pressing it.

The fireworks Mabel had gotten for the show exploded on the scene in a big cascade of light and colors. Many puppets were destroyed in this horrifying explosion, and they will forever live on in our memories.

“Mabel! Why did you do that?” Dipper asked her.

“Don’t worry,” Mabel reassured him. “I've seen enough movies to know this is the part where the audience thinks it was all part of the show and loves it. Cue applause!”

The audience, however, didn’t applause, but instead left in an angry storm, including Gabe.

“Gabe!” Mabel called him out, nervously. “Stick around for the wrap party? We've got mini-quiches!”

Gabe simply looked at Mabel with a disgusted facial-expression. “Don't speak to me, Mabel. You've made a mockery of my art form,” he turned to his puppets, both of which still on his hands. “Let’s go, my loves,” he told them and began to kiss them.

“… Did he just make out with his puppets?” Dipper asked, slightly disturbed. Even Bill seemed surprised at this turn of events.

“I might've dodged a bullet there,” Mabel remarked. Candy ran out of behind the scene towards Gabe.

“개이브이 잠깐! 캔디 나 아직도 널 사랑해!” she yelled.

 

Grunkle Stan drove Bill and the twins back to the shack along with any remaining puppets.

“I’m still sorry all your hard work got ruined, Mabel,” Dipper told her as they walked into the living room.

“That’s okay,” Mabel replied looking through the box with the surviving puppets. “At least my favorites made it!” she removed from the box the Mabel Puppet, Dipper Puppet, Grunkle Stan Puppet, Soos Puppet and Wendy Puppet.

“Hey, wait a minute!” Bill suddenly said. “Where’s my puppet?”

“I don’t think we ever made one,” Dipper replied, scratching the back of his head.

“Wait!” Mabel exclaimed. “I actually did!” she looked behind the couch and fished out a puppet that looked like Bill’s demon form and put it on her hand. “’Hey, Pine Tree, now that you’re back in your own body, do you wanna make out?’” she waved the puppet in front of Dipper, trying to imitate Bill’s voice.

“That’s not funny, Mabel,” Dipper argued, his face blushing.

“’Yes, Bill!’” Bill said in a bad imitation of Dipper’s voice; he had put on the Dipper puppet and was waving it close to the Bill puppet. “’You’re such a strong and powerful demon! I can’t resist you!’”

“Guys, it’s really not funny!” Dipper yelled at them.

“’Then, come here!’” Mabel made the Bill puppet reply and started bumping the two puppets together while making kissing noises.

“That’s it!” Dipper picked up a pillow on the couch and started hitting both Bill and Mabel who began laughing hard.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked it:3 As always, I love receiving comments, so if you have anything at all to say, please do it! This includes everything from critics, to compliments, to incomprehensible keyboard smashing of pure delight!
> 
> Next chapter is another author written one, called: "Sound of Sirens".


	6. Sound of Sirens

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's another warm day in Gravity Falls, so the Pines Family take a trip to the lake. But as always, something goes wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not that satisfied with this chapter; it really felt like one I just needed to get overwith. Oh, well, it's probably not as bad as I think, and there's still a lot of things I'm really proud of here:3

It was nearly a week after the events of Mabel’s puppet show and the destruction of the laptop. During the said week, Dipper and Mabel had helped Soos find a girlfriend, a sweet young woman named Melody, who Soos was now in a long distance relationship with; aside from the evil video game character taking control of a gang animatronics to kill them, it had been a fairly normal day. Well, that and the fact that Grunkle Stan had taken to Las Vegas for a couple of days, and when he returned, he had apparently gotten married to a mechanical prospector; their divorce had been sufficiently painful.

But all in all, everything was going much better; Bill was still teasing Dipper, but now Dipper could see a friendliness in it that he hadn’t noticed before. He was getting more comfortable around Bill and more willing to let his guard down.

Dipper had however repeatable tried to get Bill to fix the laptop, which had gotten so broken that not even Soos could repair it. Bill refused, claiming that if Dipper got access to the laptop, it would actually prevent him from figuring out the author’s identity. Dipper didn’t understand that, but after having offered Bill several deals in exchange for fixing the laptop and Bill still refused, the human had to acknowledge that Bill must be telling the truth. Dipper still kept the laptop, however; it felt wrong to throw it out, as if it would mean throwing away all the hard work he had put into finding the password.

 

It was a very warm day, not as hot as the day the Pines family went to the public pool, but still hot enough for no tourists to come. So Stan had decided to go to the lake, since there was a sand sculpture contest today, and he believed it would be a great opportunity to advertise for the shack.

Dipper, Mabel, Soos and Stan were getting ready to leave when Bill arrived.

“Hey, Mr. Pines!” he called out. “Where are you going?”

“We’re closed for today, Bill,” Stan answered in his gruff voice. “Maybe I could’ve informed you, if you had given me any kind of contact info.”

“We’re going to the lake!” Mabel told Bill excitedly. “Last time we went there, me and Dipper discovered a giant sea monster!”

“It was actually a robot,” Dipper corrected her. “Do… do you wanna come?”

“Why, Pine Tree, I would love to!” Bill replied with a wide grin. “I’ll just have to get some more appropriate attire.”

“Then hurry,” Stan barked. “We’re leaving in five minutes, with or without you.”

“I’ll be back before you know it!” Bill smirked and ran off. Presumably, he was getting out of sight to teleport away to get a bathing suit.

“Ooh~” Mabel grinned at Dipper.

”What?” Dipper asked her confused.

“Someone really wants to see Bill in a swimsuit, huh?” she waggled her eyebrows at him in comically over the top way.

“What? Seriously?” Dipper scoffed with a small blush. “Come on, Mabel! I was just being nice to him. I thought that’s what you wanted.”

“Alright then~” Mabel said rolling her eyes, still with a big smile on her face.

“Hey! I’m back!” Bill was running back to the car, carrying a plastic bag over his shoulder.

“That was fast,” Stan remarked. “I guess you can come along then.” Stan got into the car, behind the steering wheel.

“I’m taking the front seat!” Soos yelled excitedly and immediately took said seat, before anyone could object.

“I guess the three of us will have to share the backseats,” Bill said.

“Dipper should sit in the middle!” Mabel insisted, pushing her brother towards the car.

“What? Why?” Dipper questioned her.

“Because…” Mabel paused for a moment before continuing. “You always get really carsick!”

“No, I don-“ Dipper was interrupted by Mabel, who finally managed to push him all the way into the car and quickly taking the seat beside him, leaving Bill with the other seat. Mabel then proceeded to sit with her legs very far apart, forcing Dipper to sit closer to Bill. “I hate you,” Dipper muttered, glaring at Mabel.

“So, what is everyone going to be doing today?” Bill asked in a rather cheerful tone.

“Use the sand sculpture contest to advertise the shack,” Stan replied. “Other than that, I might take some time to read my book.”

“I’m going to be in the sand sculpture contest!” Soos said with all the happiness of a small child going to a theme park. “And Mr. Pines said he would help me!” Stan gave a noncommittal grunt.

“I’ll be scouting out all the hotties!” Mabel chimed in. “Now that Gabe is out of my life, I need a new bae to fill the void!”

“And what about you, Pine Tree?” Bill asked observing Dipper closely.

“I… I don’t really know,” Dipper blushed a little and looked away. He caught Mabel starring at him with a big, self-satisfied smile. “Cut it out, Mabel!”

 

When they arrived near the lake, there were so many cars Grunkle Stan could barely find a parking spot.

“You just go ahead and get to the beach,” he told the others. “I’ll find a place to park the car… if anyone asks, we brought your cousin who’s in a wheelchair,” he whispered to the twins.

“So, is there a place we can change?” Dipper asked as the group walked to the lake.

“I think that’s what those tents are for,” Mabel answered, pointing towards a line of striped tents.

“Yeah, that looks about right,” Dipper said and walked into one of the tents, carrying a plastic bag with a towel and his swimming trunks. Inside the tent, there was a mirror and a small wooden bench. Dipper placed the bag on the bench and began taking off his clothes, quickly proceeding with fishing out his swimming trunks and putting them on. He looked at himself in the mirror for a bit and felt a surge of disappointment welling up inside him; he always felt a certain amount of shame when it came to his body, he didn’t have any well defined muscles, he thought he was too skinny and found his general body shape too feminine.

In the end, he threw his shirt back on before putting the rest of his clothes back into the bag and walking out with it.

When he came out, Mabel and Soos had already changed and were waiting outside. Mabel was wearing a very tight-fitting, hot pink swimsuit with orange frills around arm and leg holes, Soos was wearing an ordinary pair of dark green swim trunks; he was sitting in the sand, having already started building his sand sculpture.

“Hey, guys,” Dipper greeted them.

“Dipper!” Mabel exclaimed in a scolding tone. “Why are you still wearing your shirt?”

“I just don’t feel comfortable showing off my body, Mabel,” Dipper replied.

“Dipper, you have nothing to be ashamed off, right Soos?” Mabel asked the handy-man.

“Yeah, Dipper, your sister’s right!” Soos told him.

“Well, it doesn’t change how I feel,” Dipper insisted. “Where’s Bill?”

“Right here, Pine Tree!” Dipper heard Bill’s voice from behind him. He turned around and saw what Bill was wearing; it was a screaming yellow, very small, very tight pair of swim briefs.

“Why are you wearing that?” Dipper asked, while making a dual effort to hide his blush and avoid looking at Bill’s crotch.

“Because it’s my swimwear,” Bill pointed out. “Why are you wearing a t-shirt?”

“I’m not dealing with this,” Dipper turned around and walked away from the group.

“He seems mad about something,” Bill observed. “Should I go cheer him up?”

“Bill, I don’t think Dipper really wants to talk you,” Mabel explained.

“Why not?” Bill whined.

“Why don’t you stay here with Soos? Then, I’ll go get Dipper back!” Mabel offered. Bill gave a small shrug and sat down opposite of Soos to help him the sand sculpture.

“So, what are you building, Question Mark?” Bill asked.

“I’m going to make a replicate of the Shack!” Soos explained excitedly.

Mabel left them to look for Dipper and soon found him walking along the water, far away from any other people.

“Alright, Dipper,” Mabel addressed him. “You can’t deny you have the hots for Bill.”

“So what if I do?” Dipper snapped. “I mean, yes I’m attracted to him, and I like him fine, and maybe I’m starting to get a small crush on him, that could in theory develop into… actual love…” Dipper trailed off a bit, his cheeks flushed. “But so what?”

“That’s a good thing, Dipper!” Mabel cheered. “Now you just need to tell Bill-“

“No, I’m not telling Bill!” Dipper argued.

“Why not?” Mabel asked. “I thought you had learned to be more honest with your feelings; didn’t everything turn out much better after you told Wendy about your crush on her?”

“Yes, but that was Wendy, another human!” Dipper explained. “My biggest reason for not telling Wendy was that I was afraid she wouldn’t be my friend anymore! That she would hate me! And Wendy understood that and she values my friendship too, that’s how I got over my crush on her. But Bill? Bill’s a demon! For all I know, he just sees me as some entertaining plaything! How do you think he would react if I told him I had feelings for him? He might not even be capable of feelings like love or even friendship! And I actually like hanging out with Bill now, and I’m not going to risk everything because of some emotions that’ll probably be gone by next year!”

“Dipper…” Mabel began, but Dipper turned around and left again.

“Just leave me alone, Mabel,” Dipper told her.

 

Dipper knew he shouldn’t get angry at Mabel, especially since she just wanted to help, but Dipper knew he just had to get over it; Bill was a demon, even if there was the smallest chance he could feel love, why would he feel it for a human? Why would he feel it for Dipper? Dipper gave out a forlorn sigh and turned around, prepared to walk back to the others, when he heard someone humming, it sounded very beautiful. Dipper felt absolutely captivated by the sound, like he just had to know what was making that noise.

He turned back around and began to walk towards the sound, searching for the source. He didn’t know for how long he had walked, could have been ten minutes or even an hour, but he soon found where the humming was coming from; hidden behind a rock formation, sitting near the lake with legs in the water, was a beautiful young woman; she had dark brown skin, very long curly hair in an indigo blue, a curvy yet fit body. The woman was wearing a pair of tight, blue jeans and an orange bikini top. She seemed to be around Dipper’s age, if a bit older.

The woman stopped her song, having noticed Dipper; she looked at him with striking red eyes and gave a small, surprised gasp.

“Oh, sorry I interrupted you,” Dipper apologized. “I heard you singing and it was very beautiful so…”

“Oh, I don’t mind,” the woman smiled. “I usually prefer to stay away from the crowd, but I have nothing against a company of two~”

“I don’t think I’ve seen you before,” Dipper noted before giving the woman his hand. “My name’s Dipper, I’m spending the summer in Gravity Falls.”

“A pleasure to meet you, Dipper,” the woman shook his hand. “My name is Kalley. I was actually on my way to my own summer vacation, but I got lost and decided to stop by Gravity Falls to rest up and grab a bite before moving on.”

“If you need something to eat, my sister probably brought some food with her,” Dipper informed Kalley.

“That’s alright,” she replied with a friendly grin. “Although…” she trailed off before continuing. “Tell me, Dipper, have you also noticed some strange phenomena in this town?”

“You have too?” Dipper asked, his eyes getting big.

“Yeah!” Kalley replied excitedly. “I found this cave in a cliff on the other side of the lake; I decided to explore it and found some very big scales in there!”

“Really? Did you bring any?” Dipper couldn’t believe! He had found someone else interested in the supernatural, or at the very least believed in it.

“No, sorry,” Kalley apologized. “But maybe we could meet up there, and explore it together?”

“That sounds great! I’ll go tell my sister and then we’ll meet with you-“

“Oh,” Kalley said in a disappointed tone with a flushed face. “I thought, maybe the two of us could do it alone?”

“Oh, well,” Dipper got a blush of his own. “I guess, if you want to, we could. I mean, I still have to tell Mabel where I’m going.”

“That would be nice,” Kalley gave him a very big smile. “I’ll see you at the cave, Dipper! You can hardly miss it!” she waved at him and Dipper waved back as he began to walk back to the others.

 

Mabel had taken a longer time to get back to Bill and Soos. She saw that aside from them, Stan had arrived too; he was lying on a towel reading a book.

“Hey, Shooting Star!” Bill greeted her. “How did it go with Pine Tree?”

“Not so good,” Mabel admitted sadly.

“Anything I can help with?” Bill asked her.

Mabel almost told Bill about Dipper’s feelings for him, but she reined herself in; it wasn’t her place to tell him. “I just think he needs some time alone,” she said instead. “But, maybe the two of you should have a talk?”

“What have I done now?” Bill exclaimed flabbergasted.

“Hey, Mr. Pines!” Soos called. “The Shack is almost done! Do you wanna add the flag?”

“The Mystery Shack doesn’t have a flag, Soos,” Stan dismissed him.

“We’re taking some artistic freedom,” Bill explained.

“Alright,” Stan sighed and got up on his legs. He took the small red flag that Soos gave him and placed atop of the sand sculpture. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going back to reading my novel.”

“Hey, Question Mark?” Bill whispered to Soos. “Wanna see something cool?” Bill discreetly summoned his flames and burned the sand sculpture until it became a glass sculpture.

“Wow, Bill, that’s amazing!” Mabel remarked, observing the glass Shack with big eyes.

“It’s pretty cool, dude,” Soos agreed. “But why exactly did you that?”

“Oh, plenty of reasons,” Bill said offhandedly. Barely had he finished his sentence, before Robbie came running up, preparing to kick the sculpture. Of course, it being made of thick glass now, only resulted in him hurting his foot. “Oh, too bad, Bleeding Heart,” Bill told him in a patronizing tone while Robbie jumped away on his uninjured foot.

“Oh, Dipper’s back!” Mabel yelled as Dipper came running.

“Hi, guys!” Dipper greeted them, sounding out of breath. “I just came by to say that I’m going off exploring!”

“Then me and Shooting Star will go with you,” Bill grinned.

“No thanks,” Dipper replied with a big smile of his own. “I’m gonna explore a tunnel with this girl, she’s really shy, so I promised her that we would be alone.”

“Dipper, you met someone?” Mabel asked him, unsure whether she should feel excited or not, as it seemed Dipper might be getting a new crush.

“Yeah, her name is Kalley,” Dipper told her with a far-off look in his eyes. “She’s passing through Gravity Falls, and she’s so beautiful, and she has the most gorgeous voice! Anyway, I’m leaving now! See ya!” And with that, Dipper left.

“Okay, I’m not the only one who thinks Pine Tree was acting strange, right?” Bill questioned Soos and Mabel.

“He was acting a little off,” Mabel admitted. “But it might just be another crush for all we know.”

“Trust me, Shooting Star,” Bill said in a serious tone. “This is not just a crush.”

“Do you have something specific in mind, dude?” Soos asked him.

“I have a hunch, but I’m not sure,” Bill informed them. “But in case I’m right, it’s best if I go after Pine Tree alone; it could be very dangerous.”

“If Dipper’s in danger, I’m gonna help!” Mabel insisted.

“Shooting Star, I know you want to save your brother just as much as me, if not even more,” Bill sighed. “But this creature is very dangerous; there is literally nothing a human can do to stop it. I’m sorry, but you’ll just have to trust me.”

“Alright, Bill,” Mabel relented sadly. “You go save my bro-bro.”

 

Dipper had all but run back to where he met Kalley; she wasn’t there, but at least now he was closer to the cave where he would see her again. In fact, he could already see a cliff in the water with a gaping hole in it; that had to be the cave Kalley had talked about! It was pretty far out, but Dipper didn’t care; he swam right past Scuttlebutt Island and into the cave.

The water in the cave was shallow enough for Dipper to walk, and the ceiling tall enough that Dipper could stand up straight. He barely registered how the rocky cave floor pricked his feet or how deep he went into the cave. Before he knew it, he reached a dead end.

“That’s odd,” Dipper remarked, placing his hand on the cave wall. “Where’s the Kalley?”

“Why, I’m right here, Dipper,” a voice sounded from behind him. He turned around and saw Kalley standing there, blocking the exit. “You really are a cute boy,” she remarked with a giggle that sounded like silver bells to Dipper. “I’m sure you’ll make a satisfying meal~”

“Stay away from my Pine Tree!” Kalley turned her head and saw Bill standing behind her, his eyes glowing with anger.

“I see you brought someone,” Kalley grinned. “Oh, well, at least it’s another man, and not your sister! This shouldn’t be a problem!” she proceeded to sing a wordless song that to a human male sounded like the most beautiful symphony composed, to Bill however, it sounded like a mix of a flock of screeching seagulls and a dolphin.

“I can clearly see that you have no idea who I am,” Bill said, unaffected by the song.

“What?” Kalley lost her cool for a moment, before regaining her grin. “Alright, guess I’ll just have to do things the old fashion way!” In that instance, the beautiful woman began to transform; her hair grew even longer and started moving around like the tentacles, her skin got covered in blue swimming feathers, her toes and fingers became webbed and grew long claws, her eyes gained an extra lid, her arms grew appendages similar in look to giant shark fins and her mouth expanded to the size of half her face and was filled with rows of razor sharp teeth.

The transformation itself barely took two seconds, and she immediately attacked Bill. The demon retaliated by grabbing her, slamming her into the wall and ripping her left arm off, as the monster let out a terrible scream.

Bill let go of the monster, quickly grabbing the still somewhat dazed human by his arm, running away and pulling him along.

“What… what happened back there?” Pine Tree asked, still in a confused state. “Where did that monster come from? Wait, we need to go back and save Kalley, right?”

“Pine Tree,” Bill sounded a bit frustrated. “That monster is Kalley! She’s a siren! And we need to get back on land! As long as we’re merely touching a body of water, we’re in danger!”

“Wait, didn’t you rip her arm off?” Pine Tree questioned, sounding like he had recently woken up from a long sleep.

“Siren bodies are very frail,” Bill explained. “But they have amazing powers of regeneration! It’ll only take her a minute or two to regrow a new arm!”

They finally reached the mouth of the cave, Scuttlebutt Island only a short swim away.

“Alright, Pine Tree, I don’t trust you to swim in your current state, so get up on my back!” Bill ordered him.

“Can’t you just…” Pine Tree paused searching for the right words. “Teleport us away?”

“I’ve already explained that my powers are limited!” Bill hissed, forcefully pulling the human on his back. “I can only teleport myself!” The demon dove into the water and began swimming towards the island. It was rather hard, since he had to keep a hold on Pine Tree while also staying afloat, but he was somehow managing.

That is, until he felt Pine Tree getting pulled away from him and into the water. Bill dove under the surface and saw the siren holding the human, trying to drown him. Bill saw red and immediately swam after the siren. Since he couldn’t punch her, he settled on grabbing her hair and clawing her body with his nails, he even tried to bite her, as she fought back with her own claws and teeth. Then, Bill grabbed some seaweed on the ocean floor; he used a small reinforcement spell, strengthening the plant and using it to tie the siren up, he then grabbed both her and the unconscious human, and transported them both to the island.

The first thing Bill did was carrying the siren away from the water and using the seaweed to tie her to a nearby tree.

“You…” Kalley gasped out. “You’re not fucking human!”

“Took you this long to notice?” Bill snarled at her.

“No, you got this all wrong!” the siren tried to explain. “This kid, he knows about the supernatural! He told me so himself! If we don’t kill him, it’s just gonna make trouble for all of us!”

“He is under my protection, do you understand that!?!” Bill roared, grabbing the siren by her again. “And I swear to every godlike deity, if you ever try to hurt him again, I will hunt you down, bring you to a desert, where I will proceed to cut off your limbs repeatedly, until I get bored, in which case, I will leave you to die from dehydration! Do you understand?”

“Yes! Yes! I understand!” Kalley screeched out. “Please, let me go! I promise to leave Gravity Falls! I’ll never come back!”

“Fine,” Bill whispered. “But first, I need something from you,” Bill summoned a sharp knife into his hand.

“What do you want?” the siren whimpered. Bill didn’t answer her, but instead began to scrape off feathers from her face. Kalley screamed in agony and begged for the demon to stop.

“Oh, quit your whining,” Bill told her, putting the feathers in a glass jar. “You’ll grow new in a matter of seconds.”

“Was that all?” Kalley asked, fearing the answer.

Bill pondered a bit before replying: “Actually, I think I should take a couple of teeth, just to be on the safe side,” he then reached into her mouth, grabbed one of her fangs and ripped it out, he continued to do that two more times, putting the teeth into the glass jar as well. He then dispelled the jar and knife and freed the siren. “This was just a little preview of what I’ll do to you, if you ever hurt my Pine Tree again.”

Kalley didn’t reply, she just whimpered, crawling back into the water and swimming away.

“Man, that sure was something, wasn’t it, Pine Tree?” Bill exclaimed excitedly, waiting for the human’s response. When he didn’t get one, he turned towards Pine Tree, only to find him still lying on the ground, unconscious. “Pine Tree, you gotta get up! Come on!” Bill said impatiently, shaking Pine Tree’s body. “What’s wrong with you? You aren’t asleep, are you?” Bill listened to the human’s breath to see if it was slowed down. It wasn’t; in fact, the human wasn’t breathing at all. “Pine tree!” Bill nearly screamed.

Bill might not know much about humans, but he knew that they needed to breathe in order to live. Bill rattled his mind, trying to figure out what to do. He remembered a movie Shooting Star had shown him, where a person drowned and someone else performed something called CPR on them, in order to resuscitate them.

First thing Bill did was removing Pine Tree’s shirt so he had access to his chest, only in his near panic, he ripped the shirt to pieces. He then went on to compress, he believed it was called, Pine Tree’s chest ten times, like the rescuer in the movie did. Then, he held the human’s nose, as he began to breathe air into Pine Tree’s lungs. This went on for less than half a minute, before Pine Tree began to cough, pulling himself up on hands and knees to cough out all the salt water.

“Bill?” he asked looking at the demon.

“Thank whatever deity that may or may not exist,” Bill sighed in relief.

“Did… did you give me CPR?” Dipper almost squeaked out, his face flushed red.

“If that’s what it’s called, yeah,” Bill replied nonchalantly.

“Oh, god,” Dipper’s blush got worse when he realized his shirt was gone. “Where’s my shirt?”

“… I ripped it off,” Bill answered.

“This day has been the worst,” Dipper groaned, falling backwards to the ground.

“Why were you even wearing a shirt?” Bill asked.

“I’m… I’m not comfortable with my body, alright?” Dipper responded in frustration. “It doesn’t look right! I’m too skinny, I have no muscles and my waistline makes me look like a girl!”

“What?” Bill sounded confused. “Pine Tree, you have a great body!”

“No, I don’t!” Dipper insisted. “You do!” he realized what he had said and his blush returned full force. “I mean, you look like how a guy is supposed to look like!”

“Pine Tree, are you seriously saying that there’s only one way for a body to look?” Bill sounded frustrated now. “Tell me, what would you say if Shooting Star came to you, complaining that she didn’t look ‘right’?”

“Mabel looks great! I’m the one who-“

“No, Pine Tree,” Bill interrupted. “Let me tell you something; human bodies come in all shapes and sizes, that’s actually something I really like about humans! Even compared to other animals, you have some of widest range of possible looks. And I, for one, really like how your body looks. And if you’re still insecure, can it at least wait for until we get back home?"

 

When Bill and Dipper returned to the others, Stan had decided it was time to go home. Soos was sad, because apparently his glass sculpture had gotten disqualified on account it wasn’t sand, so the first place went to a five year old who had made a sculpture of an anthill. Stan had gotten a ticket for parking on a handicapped spot, and Mabel was a bit grumpy because she hadn’t flirted with any guys like she had planned. She also got a bit miffed when Dipper told her about the siren in their room after they got home.

“Wait, so I can’t find a single guy to flirt with and you get seduced by a siren?” she had said in frustration.

“To be fair, she tried to kill me, Mabel,” Dipper pointed, while he was getting ready for bed.

“Well, it’s a good thing Bill was there to save you, huh?” Mabel grinned. “He even gave you a kiss~”

“Mabel, I told you back with Mermando and I’ll tell you again, CPR doesn’t count as kissing!” Dipper fumed.

“Then why are you all blushy~” Mabel said in a sing-song voice.

“I’m not!” Dipper insisted despite his heavy blush. “I’m going to bed now!”

Mabel laughed a bit before she stopped to tell Dipper: “Seriously, though, I do think Bill care about you as more than just a fun toy, Dipper. I really think you should give it a chance.”

Dipper paused for a bit before he replied: “Good night, Mabel.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright guys, I'll be taking a short hiatus from this fic. Why? Because I'm participating in the Christmas BillDip Week!
> 
> The fics for the upcoming BillDip Week will be posted on my Tumblr and here, and they will be taking place in this au and be about Bill and Dipper's first Christmas together! Hopefully, I can avoid writing any major spoilers:3
> 
> Aside from that, next chapter will be upload as soon as possible, and will be called "Dipper in Wonderland"!


	7. Dipper in Wonderland

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Dipper follows Waddles into the forest, he ends up in Wonderland. Now he is forced to find the pig, get both of them home, as well as fend of the advances of a King of Hearts, who seems rather familiar to Dipper...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay! New chapter! This one was a pure joy to write, so hopefully it'll be as much of a joy for you to read!
> 
> By the way, the reason why I used the name Carla, isn't specifically a reference to Carla McCorckle; I've noticed that the name "Carla" has popped up many times in the show. I don't know if it's an inside joke between the writing staff, some kind of reference, but by now, it has popped up three times: Carla McCorckle, the letter lady on Cash Wheel and the announcer guy in Gideon's commercial also mentioned a Carla.

After the events of Mabel’s sock opera, things quickly went back to normal, only now Dipper held a new layer of trust towards Bill; he knew that the demon really saw Dipper and Mabel as friends, that he wanted to help them, but that didn’t change the fact that all Dipper’s hard work with the laptop had been completely wasted.

Dipper looked at the broken remains of the computer, but couldn’t bring himself to throw it out; if nothing else, he could keep it as a reminder, even if he was unsure of what. He placed the laptop on the desk in his and Mabel’s room and went downstairs.

In the living room, he found Mabel lying on the couch, balancing her pink and sticker-adorned laptop on her stomach.

“Oh, hey, Dip-Dop!” she greeted him, temporarily looking up from the screen.

“Have you seen Bill?” Dipper asked her, but Mabel simply shrugged:

“He said he had ‘important business to attend to’, what that would be,” Mabel suddenly got a huge grin on her face. “Hey, Dipper? What would you say you look for most in a partner? Looks, personality or-“

Mabel was cut off when her brother picked up the laptop and looked at the screen.

“’Perfect-Couple-Kissy-Match-Quiz.com’?” Dipper read the title of the page in confusion. “Why are you filling this out? I thought you already knew what kind of partner you wanted.”

“Actually, I thought I would fill it out for you!” Mabel admitted. “I already filled one out for Bill before he left!”

“Really? And what did his say?” Dipper gave an awkward laughter, trying to hide his interest. “That his perfect match is some… all-powerful, all-knowing, godlike she-demon?”

“No, I don’t even think that’s a category,” Mabel shook her head. “It said his perfect match is resourceful, intelligent, willing to go against him when he’s wrong… Sound familiar?”

“… No,” Dipper insisted, averting his eyes. “Besides, those perfect match quizzes are so generic, you could make anyone fit their descriptions!”

“Oh, come on, Dipper!” Mabel yelled frustrated and swiped back her laptop, immediately typing in another website. “I even tested your names on a Love Meter, and it got 98%!”

“Those Love Meters are even worse! It’s completely random!” Dipper argued. “Just try typing in… the letter ‘J’ and ‘omelet’!”

Mabel did as instructed, and the Love Meter gave the couple 100%.

“See!” Dipper pulled out his journal from his vest and walked towards the front door.

“Where are you going?” Mabel called out to her brother.

Dipper sighed and paused in the doorway. “I’m not going anywhere; I’m just gonna read in the journal outside today!” And then he left.

 

Outside the shack, Dipper sat down in the shade of a tree close to the forest, pulled out a black light and began to read. A couple hours went by like that, as the warmth of the sun, mild wind and general peace began to lull Dipper to sleep.

He opened his eyes a little later, however, when he heard a familiar oink.

“Waddles?” Dipper mumbled, rubbing his eyes, still drowsy from his nap. “What are doing here? You know Mabel doesn’t like it when you’re outside.”

The pig didn’t answer, but simply used his mouth to swipe Dipper’s cap right off his head before running into the forest as fast as he could.

“Hey!” Dipper yelled and ran after Waddles, leaving the journal behind. “Get back here!”

The pig kept running away, Dipper’s hat still in its mouth, until it reach a small hill with an even smaller hole in it; the pig began digging into the slope, eventual disappearing through the tunnel.

“Seriously?” Dipper sighed in frustration, but got down on his hands and knees to crawl through the burrow; as he climbed in deeper, the crawl space got bigger, giving Dipper more room to move, but in the darkness, he didn’t see the sudden angle shift in the tunnel, leading to a big fall.

While Dipper was plummeting down the hole, he tried to grab onto something that could stop his plunge. He managed to catch an umbrella, which opened up because of the high acceleration, leading the boy to slowly descend.

“Where did this umbrella come from?” Dipper asked himself, using one hand to fumble in the darkness, hoping to find something else. As he was getting lowered, his hand bumped into something that felt like a lamp. Taking the lamp under his arm, he managed to turn it on, casting some light over his surroundings.

He was most definitely still inside a hole; the walls around him were made of dirt and had roots growing through them, but that wasn’t the weird part; the weird part was the assortment of random furniture, seemingly floating in the thin air.

“Well, at least I know I’m not in the bottomless hole again,” Dipper remarked. As he drifted by a mirror, Dipper got a look at himself, and was shocked at what he saw in his reflection, but when he looked down his own body, he realized that it was true; he was no longer dressed in his shorts, shirt and vest, instead he was wearing a light blue and white dress, with a brown corset, white frilly apron and stockings, black shoes with small light blue bows on them along with a matching hair band.

That moment of shock led him to dropping the umbrella, and Dipper was once again falling down the hole at high speed. Luckily enough, he didn’t fall for long, and he had a somewhat soft landing on a bed placed at the bottom of the pit.

Dipper, moaning in slight pain from the abrupt landing, got out of the bed, happy to finally touch a solid floor, his new shoes clicking on the pink floor tiles of the new room he found himself in; the room was round, decorated with crooked, empty picture frames, the green painting on the walls were cracked and old, and the only way out, aside from the hole above him, were a dusty pair of red curtains in front of him.

He drew the curtains aside, revealing a long hallway, painted with the same cracked painting, and hanged with more empty frames. Having nowhere else to go, Dipper began walking down corridor, finding an old wooden door at the end. He opened the door, revealing a big square room with seemingly nothing in it. Dipper walked through the door to get a better look at the room, but the moment he stepped through, the door closed behind him.

He turned around to reopen the door, but found only a wall behind him, with no trace of a door ever being there.

“What?” Dipper searched the wall, looking for some kind of proof that the door was still there, but there was nothing. “Great!” he groaned and leaned his back against the wall. But then he saw that the room wasn’t completely empty; on the other side, there was a tiny door. Dipper walked over to the door, but had to concede that it was much too small for him; he wouldn’t even be able to fit his head through, let alone his entire body.

He turned back around towards the center of the room, only this time the room had changed again; in the middle of the chamber, there was a glass table, with a tiny flask, filled with a glowing purple liquid, on top of it.

Dipper picked up the bottle and found a small piece of paper stuck to it with ‘Drink Me’ written on it.

“There are so many ways this could go wrong,” Dipper told himself, shaking his head, but he removed the cork to the flask anyway and took a small chug; the drink tasted sweet, and it was fizzy in a way that reminded him of a soda, but barely did those thoughts cross his mind before he felt a shift in his body, and suddenly he had shrunk down to the size of a mouse. “Well, at least now I can get through the door,” Dipper shrugged, not too affected by what had happened; this wasn’t the first time this summer he had been shrunk.

He ran over to the door and tried to open it, but found it locked.

“Oh, come on!” Dipper yelled in frustration, beginning to kick the door trying to get it to open, but of course it didn’t work. “Now what?” Dipper sighed knocking the back of his head against the door. “Now I’m not only stuck, I’m also the size of a hamster…” Dipper looked at the table and saw a golden key, about the same size as him, through the glass. “Maybe that’s the key to the door… But how am I supposed to get it?” Dipper turned his gaze downward in defeat, only to discover a small plate, with a pink cupcake on it, and sign saying ‘Eat Me’ under it. “I’m willing to try anything by now,” Dipper picked up the cupcake and took a large bite out of it, and the baked good did make him grow; it made him grow so big that he hit his head against the ceiling, creating a big hole in said ceiling that water began flowing out of.

“Gimme a break!” Dipper could feel himself beginning to panic; the water kept coming, meaning that the room would be flooded and Dipper would drown. The water level had reached his waist, when he spotted the bottle, which still had some of the purple liquid in it, floating by him, and when Dipper saw the key, lying on the floor under the water, he devised a plan.

Dipper carefully picked up the flask, drinking the remaining liquid, before taking a deep breath; when he began shrinking and was submerged in the water, he swam down towards the bottom and picked up the key. He could feel his lungs screaming for air by that point, but ignored it and brought the key to the door, unlocking and opening it.

When the door was opened, it created a vacuum that sucked out all the water, along with Dipper, who fought hard against the stream to get to the surface for some air. By the time he did, he saw that the water had become a sea, the room nowhere in sight, only a small sand beach nearby, that lead to a forest.

Dipper swam towards the beach, happy to get out of the water, and exhausted to the point where he felt like he could sleep on the sand, when he heard a familiar oink, and saw Waddles, looking at him by the edge of the forest, still carrying his hat.

“Get over here, now!” Dipper shouted, but the pig ran away into the woods. “Of course,” Dipper groaned and began to run after him.

 

As Dipper chased the pig, he began to realize that the forest was more of an exotic jungle; luscious green plants, ground covered in vines and flowers he had never seen before were everywhere, however, the jungle was not very deep as he was soon out of it, Waddles nowhere in sight, only a large hut that reminded Dipper a bit of the Mystery Shack.

As Dipper walked towards the familiar house, he saw someone that looked an awful lot like Grunkle Stan, sweeping the front lawn, around a vegetable garden, with a broom.

“Grunkle Stan?” the boy addressed the man in front of him.

“Carla?” the man questioned, squinting his eyes at Dipper. “Where have you been all day? I’ve had to do all your chores for you!” the old man grabbed Dipper by the arm and pulled him towards the house before pushing him through the front door. “Get to work!”

The door slammed behind a very confused Dipper. “Alright,” Dipper remarked to himself. “I’m gonna venture a guess that, that man wasn’t Grunkle Stan.” Dipper saw a bowl filled with what looked like blue apples, and feeling a little hungry, took a bite out of one. Barely had he swallowed the first bite when he suddenly began to grow again, getting so big that his arms punched holes through the shack.

“Oh, great, another monster,” he could hear the voice of the old man groan. “Now I have to burn down this house too!”

“What?” Dipper exclaimed. “What do I do? What do I do?” he was beginning to panic again; how many deadly situations was one person allowed to get into per day? Dipper recalled the vegetables in front of the house; if he ate one, maybe he would grow tall enough to break out of the house, or shrink back to his own size. He began fumbling around the lawn, looking for the garden, hurrying when he smelled the smoke from the coming house fire. He finally managed to grab something, and with a little awkward movement, he got his arm into the house, so he could eat the strange vegetable.

Dipper felt his body shift once more, and he found himself at the smallest size he had ever been, but at least he could get out of the house now. As he ran out, he saw the old man still working on the fire.

“Hey, the monster’s gone!” Dipper called out to him, trying his best to make the man hear him. “You don’t have to burn your house down!”

“Kid, once you start something, you’ve gotta finish it,” the man merely said and continued his work. Dipper shrugged it off and ran away, hoping he would soon find Waddles, but more importantly, a way out of here.

 

Dipper was exhausted; he was forced to admit that he simply couldn’t go on in his current size, but he had no idea what would make him grow and what would make him shrink. Coming across a mushroom, he climbed atop it to rest for a while and try to figure out his next course of action.

“Excuse me, you’re sitting on my home,” a snobby voice said. Dipper turned in the direction of the voice and saw someone who looked like Pacifica Northwest, stuck on a tree, wrapped in a silk-like material.

“Pacifica?” Dipper asked the girl to make sure.

“My name isn’t ‘Pacifica’,” the girl sneered. “I’m the Caterpillar, or well, I suppose now I’m the Cocoon. Soon, I’ll be the Butterfly; time really changes people.”

“Well, maybe you could help?” Dipper suggested. “I mean, if you’re not going anywhere.”

“That’s not funny,” the Cocoon answered deadpanned. “What do you need help with?”

“I need to grow taller,” Dipper told her.

“Why? You are the size you are,” she replied.

“I used to be bigger!” Dipper snapped. “And I need to be my normal height if I’m ever going to escape this place!”

“I literally couldn’t care less about your petty problems,” the Cocoon yawned as the silky substance began to grow around her. “I’m going to sleep now, and when I wake up, I’ll be a butterfly…”

“Wait! You still haven’t told me how to grow larger!” Dipper called out to her.

“One side will make you grow, the other will make you shrink,” the Cocoon began to close her eyes.

“The other side of what?” Dipper questioned helplessly.

“The mushroom, of course!” the Cocoon sneered before the silk substance completely covered her face, preventing her from making any further remarks.

Dipper looked down at the mushroom he was sitting on; he hoped the Cocoon had been right as he tore two pieces off. He examined the two pieces closely, but couldn’t see any indication as to which did what, so in the end he shrugged and took a small bite out of the one in his right hand. Not even a second later he stood as tall as a tree.

“Okay, so that one makes me grow,” he took a bite out of the left piece and shrunk to a more manageable size. “I think this is my usual height,” he mumbled to himself, putting the two mushroom pieces into different pockets on his apron to save them for later. “But I still don’t know where to go…”

“That depends entirely on where you to get to,” a familiar voice sounded from behind him. Dipper turned around and saw what looked like a cat with horrifying grin stretched out across its entire face, lying on a tree branch, but those eyes could not be mistaken.

“The shaper shifter…” Dipper whispered in realization with a look of fear on his face.

“Actually, I go by the name of the Cheshire Cat,” the creature clarified.

“Wait, ‘Cheshire Cat’?” Dipper put two and two together and came to a conclusion. “This is Wonderland…” he slapped himself across the face. “How could I have not seen this before? It’s so obvious!”

“Well, yes, this world is called Wonderland,” the Cheshire Cat nodded its head in a way that caused said head to fall off the body and landing by Dipper’s feet. “Little help?”

Dipper picked up the head and placed it back on the cat’s body.

“If this is Wonderland, that can only mean two things,” Dipper mumbled to himself. “Either I’m asleep, or when I fell down the hole, I ended up in an alternate reality…”

“How do you know you weren’t asleep before?” the Cheshire Cat asked. “Maybe it’s first today you woke up?”

“I highly doubt that,” Dipper answered. “But if I am asleep, I should’ve woken up by now… Everything feels too real to be a dream…” the boy continued to talk to himself.

“Oh, by the way,” the cat interrupted Dipper. “It went that way,” the cat pointed its tail to Dipper’s left.

“Who did?” Dipper inquired.

“The pig,” the Cheshire Cat clarified.

“He did?” Dipper asked excitedly.

“He did what?” the cat asked.

“Went that way,” Dipper explained, pointing in the direction the cat had shown.

“Who did?” the Cheshire Cat questioned.

“The pig!” Dipper snarled angrily.

“What pig?” the cat shrugged.

Dipper almost felt like pulling out his own hair in frustration. “If you’re not going to help me, then just leave me alone!”

“Well, if I was looking for a pig,” the Cheshire Cat began as his tail started to fade away. “I would go to the Mad Hatter’s place; she has a lot of pigs.”

“’The Mad Hatter’, right,” Dipper sighed. “But I don’t wanna be around mad people!”

“You can’t avoid it in this world,” the Cheshire Cat continued, its body beginning to disappear along with its tail. “Everyone here is a little bit mad; that’s what makes us normal.”

And with that the cat was gone.

“Thanks for nothing,” Dipper told the empty tree branch and began walking to the left, hoping that it was the right way to go.

 

Dipper felt like he had been walking around for an hour, but for all he knew, it might as well have been ten minutes, when he finally came across another house; this one was build rather wonky, with a turquoise roof, pink walls and stickers and glitter decorating it. The boy could he talk coming from the backyard, and found three girls sitting by a long, crooked table littered with snack plates and tea pots.

The girl who said at the end of the table looked like Mabel; she was wearing a large pink top hat, and an orange tweed coat. The girl on her right looked like Candy, only she had brown rabbit ears. And the girl on the left, sleeping in her chair, head on the table, looked like Grenda with grey mouse ears.

“Excuse me,” Dipper approached the girls.

“Hey! Hey!” the Mabel lookalike yelled. “It’s very rude to interrupt a conversation!”

“Sorry,” Dipper apologized. “I just wanted to ask, you wouldn’t happen to be the Mad Hatter, would you?”

“Oh! Someone’s heard about me!” the Hatter grinned, bouncing excitedly in her seat. “What a delightful, young boy!”

“Would you like a cup of tea?” the girl who looked like Candy asked.

“Uh, I think I’ll pass,” Dipper didn’t want to know what would happen to him if he drank the tea.

“Now isn’t that rude,” the Candy lookalike remarked.

“Look, I’m just trying to find-“ Dipper tried to ask them if they had seen Waddles, but he was interrupted by the Hatter:

“We were in the middle of celebrating our unbirthday!” she explained. “Would you like to join us? Is it, by chance, your unbirthday too?”

“Well, yeah, but-“ Dipper was once again interrupted, this time by the Grenda lookalike.

“Yeah!” she yelled out, before falling asleep again.

“It’s alright; the Dormouse drank some expired tea today. I’m the March Hare, by the way,” the Hare clarified.

“My name is Dipper,” he introduced himself. “But I’m looking for-“

“Oh, look! Pinky’s back!” the Hatter interrupted Dipper once more, when the pig Dipper had been chasing walked into the backyard, still carrying Dipper’s hat.

“Waddles!” Dipper exclaimed in relief. “Oh, thank god! Now, I just need to get you back home-“

“What?” the Mad Hatter yelled as she took Dipper’s hat from the pig. “This is Pinky, my pig! He brings me hats! Look!” she pointed to the pig’s back where a spot that looked like a top hat was.

“You mean, the pig I was chasing all this time wasn’t even Waddles?” Dipper threw his hands up in the air in frustration. “Well, at least now I just have to focus on finding my way home…”

“’Your way’?” the March Hare giggled. “All ways here belong to the King of Hearts!”

“’The King of Hearts’?” Dipper asked confused. “Don’t you mean the Queen of Hearts?”

“No, our king doesn’t have a queen yet,” the Mad Hatter explained. “He’s the most powerful of all the suits, he rules all of Wonderland, and he’s the only king without a queen.”

“He also cut off people’s heads!” the Dormouse yelled before going back to asleep.

“Maybe he wouldn’t if he had a queen?” the March Hare suggested.

“Or maybe he would be even worse?” the Mad Hatter countered. “He has had many suitors, but he has rejected them all.”

“Did any of you try to court him?” Dipper asked with mild curiosity.

“No! Of course not!” the Hatter exclaimed. “All his rejected suitors have gotten their head chopped off!” the Hatter took a sip of her cup, while the March Hare picked up a wooden hammer, then the hare hit the Mad Hatter over the head with said hammer. “I just got hit with an idea! Thanks, March Hare! If the king married someone nice, they could prevent him from cutting off people’s head, right? And our new friend here would be the perfect candidate!”

“What?” Dipper exclaimed.

“That’s a great idea!” the March Hare agreed with the Hatter, as the two of them grabbed Dipper by his arms.

“I don’t want to meet the king, let alone marry him!” Dipper protested as the two girls pulled him towards a tree which had a door in the trunk.

“If you do, I’ll give you this hat!” the Mad Hatter said and slipped Dipper’s hat on his head.

“That’s already my hat!” Dipper shouted.

“Great! That means you’ll get to keep it!” the March Hare responded. The Mad Hatter opened the tree door, and the two girls threw Dipper through it. Dipper immediately got up from the ground and turned around to run back through the door, but found only a tree behind him. Actually, it wasn’t even a tree, he realized as he stroked his hand across the smooth surface; it was more like wall, painted like a theater background and the grass was more like a green carpet. Dipper looked up towards the clear, blue sky and wondered if it was even a sky at all or just a painted ceiling.

He began to walk forward, hoping he wouldn’t run into the king, as he noticed a castle close by. He saw a group of what looked like animated playing cards, their heads, arms and legs looking more like someone had glued parts of armor to a very large card. The three cards were all holding paintbrushes and buckets filled with red paint. They spotted Dipper and called him over:

“Hey, you there! We need your help!” Dipper, despite his better judgment, walked over to the cards.

“Yes? What is it?” he asked, searching out of the corner of his eyes for a way out of the area.

“You see, Club of Five here was supposed to plant red rose bushes,” the Two of Diamonds explained. “But he instead planted white rose bushes-“

“I wouldn’t have planted white roses, if Three of Spades had gotten the right ones!” the Five protested.

“Don’t you try to blame me!” the Three of Spades yelled. “Two of Diamonds was the one who told me to get the white roses!”

“The point is the king hates white roses, and if he sees we planted white roses in his garden, he’ll cut our heads off!” the Two clarified. “Won’t you please help us? The king will be taking his stroll in his garden any minute now, and if he sees this-“

“Sorry, but if the king is on his way, I’m leaving now!” Dipper turned around to run away, but was grabbed by the Three of Spades.

“Oh no, you don’t!” he snarled. “You’re going to help us! I’m not going to have my head cut-“ The Three was interrupted by a loud fanfare.

“No! We’re too late!” the Five sobbed. A large army of cards came marching out of the castle, and the three cards all fell to their knees, bowing their entire being.

“What are you doing?” the Two hissed at Dipper who was still standing and trying to make his escape. The Two pulled Dipper down to the floor by his dress. “If the king sees you not bowing, he’ll chop your head off!”

Hearing that, Dipper decided the best course of action was to not call attention to himself, and simply hope the king wouldn’t notice him. He could only see the king’s shoes and flowing, red cape from his current position; it was impossible to see if it was another person he knew from back home or a complete stranger. He saw the king stop by one of the rose bushes, probably noticing one of the many none painted roses.

“Who planted white roses in my garden?” the king asked, Dipper immediately recognizing the voice, but refusing to believe it. The three cards besides him began to blame each other, all of them talking at the same time, leaving barely any cohesion. “So, none of you can give me a clear answer?” the king concluded calmly. “Then I guess I’ll just have to cut off all three of your heads,” the king snapped his fingers, and six card soldiers walked up to the three sentenced cards and dragged them away.

Dipper prayed to any deity there may be that the king wouldn’t notice him, but any hope of that happening was dashed when he heard the king say: “And what do we have here?”

Dipper looked up and his suspicions were confirmed; looking down at him was the face of Bill Cipher. He was dressed in a red cape, along with a white dress shirt, dark red waist coat, black dress pants, and atop his head, a golden crown with a heart shaped ruby embedded in it.

The king stretched out his hand to Dipper who, fearing the consequences if he refused, took it, allowing the king to help him up.

“I don’t believe I’ve ever seen you around,” the king remarked, grabbing Dipper by his chin, turning his head around to inspect his face. “Hmm…” the King of Hearts hummed to himself before spotting Dipper’s hat and swiping it off from his head. “And what is this?”

“Hey, that’s mine!” Dipper protested, all the events of the day having finally caught up to him, filling him with frustration and anger.

“Well, Pine Tree, it’s mine now,” the king simply replied, with a small smirk on his lips. That was the final straw and Dipper ripped his hat away from the king and pushed him to the ground. All the card soldiers gasped, and the king’s eyes had widened in shock. He simply sat there on the ground for a moment, before an angry expression took over his face. “Guards!” he called out. “Put this boy on trial!” he said before another smirk, this one much wider, appeared on his lips. “For stealing the king’s heart!”

“What?” Dipper gawked in utter confusion as the king once again took the boy’s hat, and two guards grabbed him and pulled him towards the castle.

 

Dipper had been taken to a room that looked more like an expensive hotel suite that a prison cell, except there were bars on the windows and the door was locked. Dipper knocked hard on the door, trying to break it down.

“Hey!” one of the card soldiers who guarded him called from the other side of the door. “Please stop trying to escape! If you break out, the king will have our heads cut off!”

“I don’t care!” Dipper yelled back. “I have had it with this place! If I can’t break down the door, I’ll…” he picked up a lamp that was probably more expensive than everything in his and Mabel’s room put together. “Use this lamp to break through the bars!”

“Please don’t,” the other guard pleaded. “If you break stuff, the king will have our heads cut off.”

Dipper groaned, but he had to admit that his plan would most likely fail; even if he somehow managed to get through the bars, the room was on the fourth floor, making any escapes from the window impossible. He put the lamp back where he found and sat down on the bed, when he heard a shuffling from outside his door.

The door opened, and in stepped the king, hiding something behind his back.

“So, what do you think of your accommodations?” he asked, smirk still in place.

“I think that you don’t give all your prisoners these kinds of cells,” Dipper argued, glaring at the king.

“Of course not,” the king laughed. “You’re not a prisoner!”

“Oh, I thought I was considering the guards grabbing me and dragging me off to a locked off room!” Dipper remarked sarcastically.

“If it bothers you that much, I can have their heads cut off for you?” the king offered sincerely.

“No!” Dipper yelled in frustration.

“Don’t worry, my dear~” the king cooed to him. “All preparations for your trial are soon taken care of.”

“Yeah, I still don’t get that,” Dipper responded. “What exactly am I being put on trial for?”

“I already told you,” the king grinned. “You’ve stolen my heart. And do you know what the punishment for that is? Getting married to the king~”

“Let’s take this a step back,” Dipper insisted, fighting back a blush. “How did I steal your heart?”

“You ripped something right out of my hands, after I had taken it,” the king explained, a happy gleam in his eyes. “Then, you pushed me to the floor! You deliberately went against my wishes! No one has ever done that to me before!”

“Of course no one has done that before!” Dipper shouted. “Everyone is afraid of you! They’re afraid that you’ll cut of their head!”

“But you’re not afraid of me!” the king countered. “Which is perfect; a queen should not fear their king, wouldn’t you agree?”

“Look, I’m really sorry but-“ Dipper was interrupted by the king shoving a bouquet of white roses into his face.

“For you, my dear~” he smiled at Dipper with hooded eyes.

“I thought you hated white roses,” Dipper remarked, reluctantly accepting the bouquet.

“I did, but I’ve grown rather fond of them,” the king said as he picked one of the roses and placed it in Dipper’s hair. “After all, they brought me you~”

Dipper’s face flushed red. The king smiled when he saw that, and walked towards the door.

“Your trial will be ready soon,” he told Dipper as he opened the door. “And I have a feeling you will be found guilty~” And with that, he left.

 

Shortly thereafter, Dipper was escorted by the two card soldiers to the courtroom; it was a dark room, the gallery filled to the brim with the residents of Wonderland, a jury also full of Wonderland creatures, a small defendant’s booth in the middle, and a huge judge’s table where, of course, the king was sitting, in one hand holding a gavel, in the other, Dipper’s hat.

“Why is the king the judge?” Dipper shouted as he was taken to the defendant’s booth.

“Why wouldn’t I be the judge?” the king responded.

“Because that’s a conflict of interest!” Dipper stated.

“I have no idea what that is,” the king smirked. “But I can’t wait to hear all about on our wedding night~” his face turned more serious when he banged his gavel. “Send in the first witness!”

Two guards came in, escorting the old man who looked like Grunkle Stan to the witness podium.

“Now, what do you have to tell us about the defendant?” the king questioned the man.

“Only that he’s a little pyromaniac!” the man responded gruffly. “He burned my house down! Which, incidentally, my insurance does cover, meaning that I must be paid a sum of money, to replace my home-“

“We aren’t here to discuss your insurance!” the king interrupted angrily. “We’re here to talk about the defendants crimes and find a suitable punishment!”

“Well, like I said,” the man continued. “He burned my house down, so someone should probably make sure he doesn’t do that again.”

“Are you suggesting…” the king paused as a smile crept unto his face. “Lifetime supervision?”

“As long as he doesn’t get into anymore trouble,” the old man grumbled.

“And of course, as king, I will take it upon myself to watch over this adorable, little troublemaker!” the king declared to the jury.

“Objection!” Dipper yelled out. “The judge is leading the witness!”

“Objection overruled,” the king merely replied and banged his gavel. “Lead the first witness out and the next witness in!”

The guards led the old man out, and escorted the next witness, the Mad Hatter to the podium.

“Now, what can you tell us about the defendant?” the king asked.

“Oh, well, he broke into my home,” the Hatter began. “He had been stalking my pig, and then he stole my hat!”

“What? I did no such thing!” Dipper protested, but was cut off by the Hatter’s continued rant:

“He also said that he was going to the castle, to seduce the king and marry him! And considering he still has his head, I think he might have succeeded!” the Mad Hatter finished with a smile.

“So, not only is this not the first crime the defendant has committed,” the king remarked thoughtfully. “We now know that his current crime was premeditated!”

“Can I go home now?” the Mad Hatter asked the king.

“Oh, sure, whatever,” the king shrugged. The guards took the Hatter out of the courtroom and led in the March Hare.

“The defense would like to interrogate this witness!” Dipper called out, not wanting the king to lead another witness.

“Hmm, I’ll allow,” the king banged his gavel.

“Alright, Ms. March Hare,” Dipper started, trying to sound as professional as possible. “What were you doing on the day of this alleged crime?”

“I was celebrating my unbirthday!” the March Hare replied. “Along with the Mad Hatter and the Dormouse! And then you came, and you said that it was your unbirthday too-“

“It’s your unbirthday today?” the king interrupted, looking intently at Dipper.

“Yeah?” Dipper admitted carefully.

“It’s my unbirthday too!” the king beamed with joy. “It’s practically destiny!”

“Of course we have the same unbirthday!” Dipper snapped. “I’ll bet we probably share at least three hundred fifty two other unbirthdays!”

The king gasped, a great, big smile on his face. “Jury! Write that down! He basically just said that we’re soul mates!” the king banged his gavel again. “Lead this witness out, but before you lead the last witness in, I want to show my future queen something,” the king pulled out a golden tiara with a heart shaped garnet embedded on it. “This will be his crown once he begins to rule at my side! Alright, now you can lead in the last witness!”

The king was practically bouncing in his seat when the guards brought in the last witness; Dipper immediately recognized the witness as the Cocoon. It seemed like she had finally turned into a butterfly, only she looked more like a fairy.

When the Butterfly flew up to the witness podium, the king asked: “So, what do you know about this case?”

“Absolutely nothing,” the Butterfly replied.

“Absolutely nothing?” the king repeated and turned to the jury. “Write that down; that might be the most important piece of information we’ve heard in this entire trial,” he stage-whispered.

“Can I leave now?” the Butterfly crossed her arms over her chest. “I wanna go home to my mushroom.”

“Wait, the mushroom,” Dipper gasped in realization.

The guards led the Butterfly back out the courtroom; when she passed Dipper, she whispered to him: “Happy wedding day,” with a small smirk.

Dipper glared at her while he picked the pieces of the mushroom out of his pockets, only to discover that what he thought had been two separate pockets, had been one pocket with two different openings; he had no way to know which mushroom piece would make him grow or shrink.

“Well, now that the trial is over,” the king declared. “I’m ready to give my verdict! I find the defendant guilty of stealing the king’s heart, and sentence him to marrying me!”

“Screw it,” Dipper sighed in defeat and ate the two pieces at once. It seemed to work, as he began to grow so tall that he accidently hit his head against the ceiling.

“I didn’t expect that to happen,” the king remarked rather nonchalantly.

Dipper noticed a couple of the card soldiers panicking around his legs, trying to find a way to detain him.

“Oh, leave me alone,” Dipper snarled at them, took a deep breath and blew them away. “What do you think about that?” Dipper turned to the king with a smug grin.

“This is terrible!” the king replied, sounding distraught. “It’s gonna take forever to refit your wedding dress now!”

“Let me make one perfectly clear,” Dipper gave the king a poke. “I am never, ever, going to marry you!”

The boy froze up, however, when he felt his body shift, and he shrunk back to his ordinary size. There was an awkward moment of silence where the king and Dipper simply stared at each other.

The silence was broken, when an instance later, Dipper turned around and ran out of the courtroom, and the king yelled for his guards to grab the boy, but they were all incapacitated still after Dipper had blown them away, leaving the king to chase after Dipper himself.

 

Dipper ran out of the castle, and saw an open door in the king’s garden. Hearing the yells of the king behind him, Dipper ran through the door quickly. He found himself back in an odd black tunnel, but he could see another door at the end of it, so he ran as fast as he could.

But when he reached the door, he realized that it was locked, and no matter how hard he tried, he could not open it. He gasped as he felt someone grab him by his arm.

“Gotcha!” he heard the king’s voice right behind him and felt something being slipped onto his head, right before he woke up.

 

Dipper opened his eyes and found Bill smiling at him. The human slapped the demon away from him.

“Bill!” he shouted in anger. “I can’t believe you!”

“Oh, come on, Pine Tree, I had nothing to do with that!” Bill protested, barely holding in his laughter.

“And yet, you know what I was dreaming about?” Dipper questioned, his voice still filled fury.

“Okay, I did invade your dreams,” Bill admitted, holding up his hands in defeat.

“When exactly?” Dipper asked, crossing his arms.

“Around the trial, when the King of Hearts showed off the crown you’re wearing now,” Bill smirked.

Dipper raised a hand to his head and pulled off a tiara that looked identical to the one in his dream.

“What the…?” he gave Bill a confused look.

“You see,” Bill began to explain and handed Dipper his hat back. “Since I slipped that crown on you, right as you woke up; you were actually able to pull it out of your dream!”

“I don’t want it!” Dipper yelled and threw the tiara at Bill; he was still embarrassed that the demon had seen a dream that had been about Dipper almost marrying Bill. “I’m going back to my room! I need to be alone!” Dipper remembered to pick up the journal before he left the demon.

 

Bill looked at Pine Tree leave, before he teleported back to his motel room. He placed the tiara besides the other ingredients he had collected. An object from someone’s dream; in essence, a piece of said person dream and by extension, them.

Bill frowned as he remember the role he had taken in Pine Tree’s dream; was that really how the human saw him? As a maniacal tyrant, who forced himself on the boy? Maybe he take a break with courting Pine Tree, if his flirtation made the human that uncomfortable and created such a wrong image of him in Pine Tree’s mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I won't be rewriting Soos and the Real Girl or Little Gift Shop of Horrors. I would actually really enjoy to rewrite Soos and the Real Girl, but with Dipper getting the game instead, and Bill having to fend off Giffany, but I won't because I feel like that episode belongs to Soos, and I don't want to take it away from him, not even in my AU.
> 
> I won't rewrite Little Gift Shop of Horros, because it's more of an anthology, and it's sort of iffy whether it's canon or not, but I might make references to it.
> 
> Hope you liked reading the story:3 The next chapter will be another author-written one, called "Huldra Karl's Wagon". If you want to, please leave a comment; I love to receive comments! It's always great to know that people really like your story, and it helps to motivate to writeX3


	8. Huldra Karl's Wagon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dipper and Mabel decide to examine a creature that the author of the journals was never able to collect much information about.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay! New chapter! When I first began this fanfic, this chapter was one I had been looking really forward to write. Unfortunately, it didn't turn out exactly as I had wanted. Oh, well, it's still good.
> 
> And, in case you're wondering about the title: a male Huldra is called a "Huldra Karl", karl meaning a young man in many scandinavian languages. And the Big Dipper is called "Karls Vognen" in danish, which roughly translates to "The Karl's Wagon". So yeah, this title is a major pun that only works in my native language...

It was a couple days after the twins had nearly been killed by a jealous video game character. Dipper was running downstairs as fast as could, carrying the journal under his arm; when he entered the living room, he found Mabel, lying in an uncomfortable position on the couch, watching television.

“Hey, Mabel,” Dipper addressed his sister, slightly out of breath. “Have you seen Bill anywhere?”

“I think he said yesterday, that he would meet late today. Why are you asking?” she responded, removing her gaze from the TV screen.

“Okay, so, I was looking through the journal, when I discovered something amazing!” Dipper began, barely able to contain his excitement. “I noticed that one of the pages seemed a little thicker than the rest, and I discovered that two pages had gotten stuck together!”

“No way!” Mabel exclaimed, falling off the couch with thump. “What’s the page about?”

“That’s the weirdest part! The page barely has any information!” Dipper opened the journal and showed Mabel the page in question; it featured a humanoid drawing.

It looked like a woman with her back turned, long wavy hair pulled over her shoulder, showing off a gaping hole on her back, bark lining the edges of the hole, a cow-like tail protruding from her tailbone, and long, pointy ears that ended with tufts of hair. The above text on the page read: ‘Huldras’.

“All it says it that Huldras are humanoid creatures, possibly linked to trolls or elves, their most distinctive feature is the gaping hole on their back, which might suggest that they’re made of wood and related to dryads, and that they either have a cow-like or fox-like tail,” Dipper explained quickly. “And then the page ends with the author writing that he will investigate them further, but nothing else is written! I’ve even checked for invisible ink!”

“That’s cool and all, but why were you looking for Bill?” Mabel asked her brother.

“Well, I wanted to know if he maybe knew more about them,” Dipper mumbled, averting eye contact. “And I thought, since there’s so little written about them in the journal, we could all three go out and try to find one… And maybe I also wanted to talk with him a bit,” Dipper admitted. “Don’t you think Bill’s been acting strange lately?”

“Strange how?” Mabel questioned, even though she already knew the answer; she had noticed it too.

“He seems so… withdrawn lately,” Dipper replied. “He’s being so quiet, and he generally seems less happy. Do you think maybe he’s getting bored of us?”

“Oh, Dipper, I’m sure that’s not the case,” Mabel reassured her brother, giving his shoulder a tight squeeze. “He’s probably got a lot on his mind, or maybe it’s just the demon equivalent of a period.”

“Okay, Mabel, I didn’t need to hear that last part!” Dipper laughed. “Well, I guess that Bill can just sit this one out.”

The twins packed up and left the shack, heading into the forest. Mabel pulled out a small plastic bag full of strawberries when they got a little further in.

“Why did you bring strawberries?” Dipper inquired, looking at the small bag.

“Aside from the fact that they’re delicious?” Mabel countered and popped one into her mouth. “I thought we could use it as bait!”

“Mabel, we don’t even know what Huldras eat,” Dipper argued.

“Then there’ll be more for me!” Mabel smirked and ate another one.

After walking for half an hour, bumping into various other creatures, but no Huldras, the twins were surprised to see a fox tail sticking out of a bush.

“Look, Mabel,” Dipper whispered, pointing at the fox tail. “The journal said that some Huldras have fox tails.”

The tail flicked a little at the sound, the bush rustled and out of it stepped an ordinary fox.

“False alarm,” Dipper sighed, downtrodden.

“Aw, it’s so cute!” Mabel gushed, shuffling closer to the fox, holding out a strawberry to the animal.

Just then, something zoomed past the twins, grabbing Mabel’s bag of strawberries, running away through the bushes. The fox howled and ran off in the opposite direction.

“What was that? And why did it take my strawberries?” Mabel asked.

Dipper squinted in the direction the creature had run off in, and spotted what looked like a cow tail moving through the greenery.

“That’s either a really fast cow,” he stated. “Or what we’re looking for.” Dipper didn’t give Mabel a chance to reply, as he dashed off after the creature.

The presumed Huldra had seemed to slow down, almost as if it had wanted Dipper to catch up to it, but once Dipper got closer to it, it continued to run off at high speed. Soon enough, Dipper lost track of the creature, but kept running in the same direction, eventually walking into a clearing by a flowing stream. There, lying on a big, flat rock, lied what looked like a boy around Dipper’s age, with sun kissed skin, orange red, semi-long, messy hair, completely naked aside from a loin cloth made from plants that covered his crotch, long pointy ears that ended in orange tufts, and a long cow-like tail.

The Huldra laid on his side on the rock, eating Mabel’s strawberries in a somewhat sexual manner, the juice from the fruit dripping down from his chin to his chest.

“Umm, excuse me?” Dipper greeted the creature awkwardly. The Huldra looked up, his dark green eyes meeting Dipper’s brown, and he smiled.

“I was hoping you would follow me,” the Huldra replied. “Otherwise, it would have been a lot of work for nothing.” The Huldra began using his hands to dry off the sticky juice on his chest.

“Uh, well, my name is Dipper,” Dipper walked closer to the creature. The Huldra smile widened.

“My name is Twigs; it’s so nice to meet you!” Twigs giggled as he rose from the rock and walked up to Dipper; he was only one or two inches shorter than Dipper. “It’s not often I see humans! But today I could smell a sweet, new scent in these parts of the forest, so I decided to investigate!”

“Oh, you mean the strawberries,” Dipper pointed at the bag, still half filled with the fruit.

“Well, that too, I guess,” Twigs shrugged. “So,” he looked intently at Dipper, a big smile on his lips. “What brings you to these parts of the woods?”

“My sister and I were actually looking for a Huldra,” Dipper explained. “You see, we have this journal about all the paranormal creatures in Gravity Falls, but there is no information about Huldras, so we hoped to discover something.”

“Why, aren’t you lucky then?” Twigs winked at Dipper. “You just happen to be speaking to a Huldra Karl!”

“A ‘Huldra Karl’?” Dipper questioned and pulled up the journal, along with a pencil.

“Yeah, that’s what male Huldras are called,” Twigs clarified. “You know what, why don’t I just tell you what I know about Huldras, and you write it down?” Twigs took Dipper’s arm in a gentle hold, and led him towards the stream where the Huldra took a couple of his namesake and began braiding them into each other. “I like to keep my hands busy while I’m talking,” Twigs explained. “So, anything specific you wanna know about?”

“Anything you’re willing to tell me, honestly,” Dipper answered. “Actually, could you start with Huldra diet? Since you ate the strawberries, does that mean you’re vegetarian?”

“Uh, I think Huldras are ‘Omnivores’, actually, if that’s the word I’m looking for,” Twigs began. “Most Huldras eat berries, nuts and fruits, along with the occasional vegetables, if we can get a hold of them, but some prefer to hunt birds and small rodents,” the Huldra shrugged. “We’re not exactly picky.”

“Do you know where your species originates from?” Dipper inquired.

“Well, my family’s from Sweden!” Twigs replied with a smile. “And I know a couple of other Huldras from Norway, so I think those two are safe calls, if not Scandinavia in general.”

“Why did your family move?” Dipper asked.

“Our home was destroyed in a forest fire,” the Huldra answered with a small pout. “We could’ve moved into a different forest, but my mom said that she had heard about Gravity Falls from some friends, and that it had one of the greatest magic fields in the world.”

“What’s a magic field?” Dipper questioned.

“Haven’t you felt it?” Twigs looked at him for a moment. “I guess humans can’t feel it, then…”

“I don’t understand,” Dipper shook his head. “Felt what?”

“A magic field is an area that carried great magical significance in the past,” Twigs explained. “Places where rituals have been held or other such events taken place. A magic field carries an aura to it that makes it a more comfortable place for magical creatures to live; some creatures can’t even survive outside a magic field.”

“That’s very interesting,” Dipper scribbled notes down, until he noticed that Twigs wasn’t talking anymore. He lowered the journal to see the Huldra starring at him with a big smile. “What?”

“Now you need to tell me something about you!” the Huldra giggled and picked up a small, round white rock that lied by the stream and began to weave it into the twigs.

“Oh, well, my name is Dipper, like I already told you,” the human mumbled, averting eye contact. “My twin sister, Mabel, and I are in Gravity Falls for the summer… I like reading, and, uh… This is very difficult, I’m sorry.”

“That’s alright,” Twigs assured him.

“Hey, if you don’t mind, could I see that hole on your back?” Dipper asked carefully.

“You wanna…?” the Huldra blushed, but nodded eagerly as he turned around. Dipper looked at the gaping hope; it was very similar to the picture in the journal. If it wasn’t for the part where the wood met the skin, it would look just like a hole in a tree trunk. Dipper stretched his hand towards the hole, touching the bark. Twigs reacted with a small squeak.

“Sorry!” Dipper apologized, quickly pulling his hand back.

“N-no, it’s fine!” the Huldra insisted. “That part of my body is just… very sensitive…” Twigs turned back around with an excited expression. “I’m done with it now!” the Huldra showed Dipper the finished product of his weaving, a small ring. “Here! It’s for you,” Twigs slipped the ring on Dipper’s left ring finger.

“Thanks,” Dipper smiled at the Huldra.

“Dipper!” Mabel’s voice called out.

“I’m over here, Mabel!” Dipper called back. “That’s my sister, Mabel, calling,” Dipper explained and got up on his feet. “It’s been fun,”

“Wait!” Twigs protested, grabbing Dipper’s arm. “I wanna meet your sister!”

“Alright,” Dipper agreed, mildly weirded out when the Huldra didn’t let go of his arm. Soon after, Mabel stepped out from behind a bush.

“There you are!” she said, sounding mildly exhausted. “And who’s this?”

“My name is Twigs!” the Huldra smiled widely.

“Nice to meet you, Twigs, I’m Mabel!” the girl greeted him.

“And it’s so nice to meet you too, Mabel!” Twigs replied. “I hope we’re going to get along. After all, I would like to have a good relationship to my family-in-law!”

“What!?!” both Mabel and Dipper yelled in surprise.

“We’re getting married, silly!” Twigs laughed, hugging Dipper’s arm tighter.

“No, we’re not,” Dipper tried to sound calm, but felt panic bubbling up inside him.

“Yes we are,” Twigs countered with a small pout. “I gave you a ring, like humans do!”

“I’m not going to marry you, Twigs,” Dipper simply said, shaking his head.

“But I don’t want to kill you!” Twigs whined. “You’re so nice and pretty!”

“Where did all this even come from!?!” Dipper nearly screamed. “You don’t have to kill me!”

“Yes, I do,” the Huldra said. “All Huldras want to become a human, but the only way for us to become a human, is to marry a human. If the human refuses, we kill them. If the human agrees, some Huldras choose to kill them on the wedding night, but others choose to stay with them, and I really like you, so I think I’ll stay with you.”

Dipper had never heard anyone talk about marriage and death so casually, not even Bill. Wait! Of course! If they could get a hold of Bill, the demon would be able to help them!

“Hey, Mabel,” Dipper addressed his sister with a tight smile. “Maybe you should go and get Bill for the wedding?”

“Wait, are you actually going through with this?” Mabel asked him, cocking her head.

“Mabel!” Dipper raised his voice, his smile getting tighter. “I think you should go and get Bill, so he can help me!”

“Oh!” Mabel’s eyes widened in realization. “Right! I’ll go get Bill; I’ll be back in a flash! You two just wait for us here!”

Mabel turned and ran back to the shack.

“Why is your sister getting this ‘Bill’?” Twigs questioned Dipper with a small pout.

“Because…” Dipper paused, trying to figure out a reason.

“We don’t need help for our wedding,” the Huldra insisted. “All we need is each other, right?”

“But we actually do need other people!” Dipper protested. “You see, a marriage is only valid if you have witnesses!”

“Really?” Twigs blinked a couple times and shrugged. “Alright, then, but I hope your sister gets back soon.” Twigs led Dipper back to the stream by his arm. “This is going to be so great! I promise I’ll be a good spouse! I can get food, and keep our home clean-“

“There’s a lot more to marriage than just providing for each other,” Dipper pointed out.

“Like what?” Twigs asked in utter confusion.

“Twigs, when was the last time you had any contact to a human?” Dipper questioned the Huldra, a growing suspicion in the back of his mind.

“Eh, it was around the fifteen hundreds, I think,” Twigs replied.

“Marriage has changed a lot since then,” Dipper tried to explain to the Huldra, but was cut off:

“I know that it might seem a little weird to you, for two males to get married, but back in the day that used to be a thing, before the church outlawed it!” Twigs said, completely convinced that he was easing Dipper’s worries. “I promise you, whatever propaganda the church has thrown out, marriage between two males is entirely natural, and there is really nothing wrong with it!”

Twigs was interrupted from giving Dipper any further “reassurance” by a bright flash and loud bang. Dipper turned around and saw a very pissed off Bill standing a few feet behind him, having just teleported in; Bill was breathing loudly and noticeably, his eyes seemed to glow red, and his nails were even more claw-like than usual.

“Hi!” Twigs greeted the demon happily. “Are you Bill?”

“Yes,” Bill replied, barely able to contain his anger.

“I’m so happy to meet you!” Twigs answered. “Now me and Dipper’s wedding can get started!”

“You and…” Bill didn’t even finish his sentence before he teleported away again. Dipper felt the earth shake and saw the sky flash in the distance, before a rather frazzled, but calmer looking Bill teleported back to them. “Can I talk to Pine Tree for a moment?”

“I don’t know who that is,” Twigs responded.

 

When Mabel had arrived at the Mystery Shack, she had been happy to find Bill almost immediately. But she had barely managed to explain Dipper’s situation, before the demon’s face turned completely blank and he teleported away, right in front of Grunkle Stan, who had also overheard Mabel’s explanation.

After a bit of teleportation to all clearings that Bill knew of, he managed to locate Pine Tree along with the Huldra; said Huldra had his filthy hands all over Bill’s Pine Tree! The demon already hated the Huldra with his entire being. He could feel himself getting closer and closer to tear the Huldra apart, limb from limb, with each word that came out the little creature’s mouth. Unable to take much more, Bill teleported away to the closest mountain and blew up part of it; it took away the edge, but he still felt ready to murder the next living thing he saw, by the time he teleported back to the clearing.

Shooting Star arrived along with Stan soon after.

“Bill!” Shooting Star yelled at him. “You can’t just teleport out like that! Grunkle Stan saw you! And how did you even find Dipper? You had no idea where he was!”

“You said he was in a clearing,” Bill replied, a sour expression on his face as he glared at the Huldra. “I merely checked every single clearing until I found him.”

“I would like to know exactly what is going on here!” Stan demanded in an angry tone.

“Uh, Twigs?” Pine Tree turned his head toward the Huldra. “Could you let go of my arm? I’d like to speak to my family for a moment, in private.”

“Okay!” the Huldra agreed with an annoyingly cheery smile. “I’ll just go over there and make some flower garlands for you!”

Bill glared at the Huldra, going over to pick some stupid flowers to make some dumb garlands.

“I need a plan, and I need it now,” Pine Tree whispered to the others.

“What made you think looking for a Huldra was a good idea?” Bill hissed. “Do you have any idea how dangerous those are to humans?”

“Well, now I do!” Pine Tree snarled back at the demon.

“How did you manage to get into this much trouble,” Stan groaned, rubbing his temples.

“Pine Tree’s magic makes him a supernatural magnet,” Bill answered, crossing his arms over his chest.

“By the way,” Stan turned to Bill. “What exactly are you? I want a straight answer!”

“I’m a demon, obviously,” Bill shrugged.

“Guys, we can talk about that later,” Shooting Star interrupted. “Right now, we need to figure out how to stop this marriage, without getting Dipper killed.”

“That’s easy,” Bill replied. “We kill the Huldra, problem solved.”

“Bill!” Pine Tree smacked Bill over the head. “I’m not letting you kill him! He’s basically a child!”

“Well, too bad, Pine Tree, I’m not letting you marry that little barkback!” Bill argued.

“Grunkle Stan, do you have any ideas?” Shooting Star turned to Stan. “Doesn’t that movie you like watching have something similar to this?”

“What movie?” Stan asked defensively.

“That duchess movie!” Shooting Star pointed out. “How did the duchess get out of marrying that count?”

“Count Lionel? Well, after the count interrupted the duchess’ wedding, he arranged a new wedding between, that the duchess was forced by her mother to accept. But she asked her best friend, the servant Alistair, to break up the wedding, claiming to love the duchess and challenge the count to a duel-”

“There we have it, then!” Shooting Star interrupted her grunkle, before he went into greater detail about the movie. “We all pretend to go along with the wedding, but then Bill protest during the ceremony, challenging Twigs to a duel for Dipper’s hand!”

“I thought the point of this plan was to not have Twigs killed,” Pine Tree responded.

“No, I like this plan,” Bill nodded with a small smile.

“They’re not actually going to fight ‘till death,” Shooting Star assured her brother. “Bill just has to make Twigs surrender.”

“Bill,” Pine Tree gave Bill an angry scowl. “Remember our deal; you’re not allowed to kill anyone, unless it’s to protect someone else.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Bill brushed him off.

“Alright,” Pine Tree sighed, and turned to the Huldra. “Twigs! We’re ready now!”

“Great!” the Huldra cheered and bounced over to Pine Tree. “I’m done with the flower garlands, look!” the Huldra threw one of the garlands on Pine Tree’s head and another onto his own. “Oh, they make you look so pretty!” the Huldra once again grabbed Pine Tree by the arm and Bill could already feel himself ready to explode, and he wasn’t even sure if he meant metaphorically or literally.

“Uh, Mabel, could you, umm, officiate this?” Pine Tree asked his sister.

“Sure!” Shooting Star replied and walked over to her brother and the Huldra. “Dearly beloved,” she began. “We are gathered here today, to join this human and Huldra in holy matrimony. If anyone is against this union, speak now or forever hold your peace-“

“I object to this!” Bill yelled out.

“Oh, who could have ever foreseen this turn of events?” Pine Tree obviously tried his best to sound genuine, but he wasn’t the best actor. Still, it seemed to fool the Huldra:

“What’s going on?” the Huldra looked around, sounding mildly distressed.

“Pine Tree has already promised me his hand!” Bill lied with a confident smirk.

“I don’t know who that is!” the Huldra sounded close to crying.

“He’s Pine Tree,” Bill explained, pointing to Pine Tree.

“You told me your name was Dipper!” the Huldra turned to Pine Tree with a betrayed look on his face.

“Pine Tree is just what Bill calls Dipper,” Shooting Star interjected. “But since Bill has protested this union, do you know what happens now?”

“No, I don’t!” the Huldra pouted, stomping his foot in the ground. “I’m going to marry Dipper, and I don’t care what his friend has to say about it!”

“No, you see,” Shooting Star paused for a moment, trying to make something up. “When… someone protests a union… they get the chance to duel for the hand of their loved!”

“You heard that right, carrot-top!” Bill yelled. “I’m challenging you to a duel for Pine Tree’s hand!”

“Alright, then I accept,” the Huldra glared at the demon, although it was undermined by his pouty expression.

“Very well,” Shooting Star nodded her head. “The duel will be until either party yield,” she threw a look towards her grunkle, who had pulled out a recording camera. “Grunkle Stan, really?”

“Hey, at least this way I’m getting something out of this,” Stan responded. “People on the internet love to watch teens fight… or really just anyone fight.”

“You really are a foolish human, if you think that you can beat a Huldra,” Twigs remarked as he got ready to fight Bill.

“Oh, but there’s just this little detail you overlooked,” Bill smirked condescendingly.

“And what’s that?” the Huldra tilted his head, and in an instance, Bill had grabbed him and forced his body into the ground.

“I’m not a human!” Bill declared as he shoved the Huldra’s head into the ground. Twigs fought and flailed, trying his hardest to get away from the demon, but it was futile. Bill used his left hand to hold the Huldra down, as his right hand moved to the creature’s back, where the gaping hole was, and he began to tear into the wood, pulling away a piece of the bark, a small amount of green liquid seeping out from where he ripped it.

Twigs screamed and cried in pain from Bill’s assault. “I yield! I yield!” he sobbed. “Please stop!”

Bill knew in that moment that he could easily kill the Huldra; he was in the perfect position to do so, and he wouldn’t feel a shred of remorse for it, while he had made a deal with the twins not to kill anyone, unless in defending someone else, that deal had been broken when Stan found out about him being a demon. But Pine Tree… Pine Tree actually cared if the Huldra lived or died… Or maybe he just cared if Bill killed? The demon wasn’t too sure, but he knew that if he went through with this, if he gave in to his instincts and killed the creature that had dared to try and take Pine Tree away from him, Pine Tree would be furious. Bill could already see him; looking at the demon with a disappointed and disgusted look in his eyes or maybe one of sorrow and fear… 

Bill let go of the Huldra, tucking the piece of bark into his pocket.

“Well, that fight was shorter than I had hoped,” Stan grumbled with discontent.

Dipper looked at Twigs, still sobbing, crawling like a discouraged puppy towards the river.

“Hey, guys, you go on ahead,” Dipper told them.

“Are you sure, Dip-Dop?” Mabel asked him, putting a hand on his shoulder.

“I’ll be fine,” Dipper nodded and walked over to the Huldra.

“I just don’t understand,” Twigs cried. “We could’ve been happy together.”

“I don’t think so,” Dipper told him in a solemn tone. “Look, we’re from two different worlds; I’m a human, you’re a Huldra-“

“But if you had married me, I would’ve turned into a human!” Twigs protested. “And that guy wasn’t a human either!”

“Okay, let me explain like this; what is marriage to you?” Dipper questioned the Huldra.

“It’s a beneficial agreement between two people,” the Huldra replied.

“See? That’s what marriage means to you, but to me, it’s something completely different,” Dipper looked away from Twigs and closed his eyes. “Society has changed a lot these last centuries and marriage has changed too; marriage isn’t seen as some contract anymore. Now, it’s generally seen as a union between two people who love each other, and wants to spend the rest of their lives together.”

“Really?” Twigs watched Dipper with big eyes. “But love is such a fragile concept to build a lifestyle around! It can fade any day!”

“Maybe,” Dipper shrugged. “But there are people who believe that it’s possible to find a love that lasts. I know for one that I would never marry someone I didn’t love. It doesn’t mean that my version of marriage is superior to yours; just that we have different needs, wants and expectations when it comes to marriage.”

“So… now what?” the Huldra asked.

“Well, humans invented dating to determine if someone was right for them, before they got married,” Dipper explained. “Maybe you should try that? But who knows? Maybe someday, you’ll meet a human who shares your ideals when it comes to marriage?”

Twigs looked at Dipper for a moment before putting his arms around the human, embracing him. “I’m going to miss you, Dipper… I hope Bill makes you happy.”

“Thank you,” Dipper responded as the hug ended. He waved goodbye to the Huldra, leaving the clearing, only to run into Bill who was leaning against a tree. “I thought I told you to go on ahead?”

“I stayed, in case the Huldra tried to hurt or kidnap you,” Bill stated.

“Obviously, there was no cause for concern,” Dipper began to walk towards the shack, Bill following him. “By the way, Bill… thanks for not killing Twigs…”

“It’s not like I did it for you or anything,” Bill sneered. “I was just keeping my part of the deal.”

“Still, I’m glad you spared him,” Dipper gave the demon a small smile.

“… Whatever,” Bill simply said and began to walk faster.

“Actually, Bill, I’ve been meaning to talk to you,” Dipper had to run to catch up to the demon. “Is anything wrong?”

“What do you mean?” Bill stopped dead in his tracks.

“These last days, you’ve been acting so distant,” Dipper clarified. “You barely spend any time with me and Mabel! In fact, you missed when Soos’ video game girlfriend almost killed us!” Dipper paused and looked at Bill with a sorrowful expression. “Did… did you get bored with us?”

“What!?!” Bill exclaimed. “No! Of course not!”

“Then… was it something I did?” Dipper inquired, feeling desperate for answers. “Did I do something to make you hate me?”

“I don’t hate you, Pine Tree!” Bill insisted. “I just thought… after I saw how you perceive me in that dream… I thought it would be for the best if I stepped back a bit, gave you some space...”

“Bill!” Dipper blushed heavily, now remembering how Bill had seen his dreamself trying to get Dipper to marry him. “I promise you, that dream had nothing to do with how I see you!” Dipper lied.

“Somehow, I find that hard to believe,” Bill gave a wry smile.

“I’m sorry, Bill,” Dipper averted his eyes from Bill by focusing on his feet.

“It’s not your fault, Pine Tree,” Bill assured him. “You can’t help how you feel.”

“Really, I am!” Dipper responded. “I never wanted to make things this awkward for you… Please, can’t we just go back to how things were before?”

“Are you sure you would be able to handle that, Pine Tree?” Bill asked.

“I promise,” Dipper said, smiling at Bill. “I’ve missed you.”

“Alright,” Bill nodded, smiling back.

 

Bill spent the rest of the day with Pine Tree and Shooting Star. The demon was glad everything had turned back to normal; the last couple days had been so lonely for him. When the evening came, Bill left the twins’ room, grabbing his coat before he left the Mystery Shack.

“Don’t you dare hurt them,” a voice sounded from behind Bill. He turned around and saw that it was Stan.

“Oh, please,” Bill rolled his eyes. “If I wanted to harm the twins, they would already be dead.”

“Is that supposed to comfort me?” Stan raised his brow in a challenging way.

“I would assume knowing that a dangerous demon doesn’t wish harm on your loved ones would be,” Bill shrugged. “But there’s a lot about humans I don’t know.”

“What are you planning?” Stan asked the demon.

“I have my secrets~” Bill smirked. “Just like you have yours, Stanley.”

Stan’s eyes widened and he took an involuntary step back. “How…?” he gasped before regaining his composure. “How did you know!?”

“Aside from the obvious parts that any human would notice?” Bill tilted his head in an over exaggerated manner. “Souls never change, and no two souls are alike; not even twins’.”

“What do you want?” Stan took a deep breath, trying to prevent himself from punching the demon in the face.

“Oh, I doubt you’re willing to make a deal with me,” Bill chuckled.

“You’re right,” Stan agreed with a small nod. “I’m not.”

“Exactly, you’re too smart for that,” Bill moved towards the front door. “Besides, I don’t want anything from you. Just thought you should know that I know. Oh!” Bill paused before leaving and turned to Stan. “It might be a good idea to tell the twins what you’re doing downstairs behind the vending machine.” And with that, Bill left.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked it!
> 
> Next chapter, we will take on another episode-chapter, with Society of the Blind Eye!


	9. Society of the Blind Eye

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Following a new lead to the Author's identity, the gang discovers that Gravity Falls has a secret society that erases people's memories.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes! Finally! Sorry this took so long! This chapter was a bitch to write, plus I have been busy with restarting school after Christmas break, my birthday, basically, I've been busy.
> 
> But hopefully this chapter was worth the wait!

It was three days after the events with the Huldra, and everything between Bill and Dipper had returned to normal. On one hand, Dipper was really happy about that, because he had missed spending time with Bill. On the other hand, now Bill was also teasing Dipper again, which made it more and more difficult for Dipper to ignore his attraction to the demon.

It was late afternoon on a slow day at the Mystery Shack; there seemed to be no more tourists for the day, so Bill had said he would go home and change from his work clothes and come back. Dipper had decided to use this opportunity to get rid of some his… frustrations.

He was undressed, in the bathroom, ready to take a quick shower; he didn’t want any evidence of what he was about to do, and he honestly still had a hard time believing he was actually going to do this.

He turned on the water, sat the temperature to a pleasant degree, and began touching himself; he stroked his body slowly as the warm droplets slid down his skin, reaching for his member and starting to pump it in a leisurely pace. He tried to imagine Bill touching him like that, feeling the shame rising inside him, but he didn’t stop. Then he began to fantasize about Bill simply watching him, instead of touching him; telling him in low tones to speed up while whispering praises in his ear.

Dipper kept pumping shaft with his right hand, while his left hand began wandering his body again. He thought about the demon, standing right behind him, being the one stroking his body like this; would Bill be rough and urgent, or would he be slow and sensual? Maybe he would start kissing Dipper all over his body, or maybe even bite him. Dipper felt a spike of excitement at the thought of Bill biting him; he began to pinch his skin with his finger nails, imagining it was Bill’s teeth.

Dipper, feeling his climax approaching, took a deep breath and gave it a last rub, as his body fell into ecstasy. Then he just stood there, breathing heavily as the water washed away all evidence of what had taken place. He placed his forehead against the cool tiles on the wall; he couldn’t believe he had actually just done that. He had just masturbated while thinking of someone he considered a friend. He hadn’t even done that when he had a crush on Wendy! Why now? Why Bill?

Dipper was interrupted from his thoughts and self shaming by a knock on the bathroom door. Then a familiar voice called out: “Pine Tree! You in there?”

“Yeah!” Dipper called back, trying not to sound like he had just had an orgasm to the thought of Bill jerking him off. “I’m in the shower!”

“Oh, are perhaps taking a shower for my sake?” Bill’s voice teased. “You make me feel so special, Pine Tree~”

“As if!” Dipper scoffed, despite it technically being true. “I just need to dry off! You can wait for me in my room!” he shouted, glad that he had the forethought to take clean clothes with him.

 

About five minutes later, Dipper stepped into his and Mabel’s room, fully dressed, except a towel over his head instead of his cap, as his hair was still wet. Bill was lying on Dipper’s bed, hands behind his head; Dipper blushed and hid his face under the towel at the sight of the demon on his bed.

“Pine Tree, are you hiding from me?” Bill teased, grabbing the towel and pulling it off.

“N-no!” Dipper protested and took the towel away from the demon. “I was just drying my face!” Dipper walked over to his corkboard and sighed somewhat melancholic.

“Something wrong, kid?” Bill asked, walking up behind Dipper.

“It’s just… with the laptop destroyed,” Dipper nudged his head towards the broken laptop lying on a chair. “I lost all my leads; I might never find out who the author is now.”

“I’m telling you, Pine Tree, the laptop was a dead end,” Bill insisted.

“Then what am I supposed to do?” Dipper turned around and glared at Bill. “Go back to the bunker and hope I overlooked something?”

“Why not?” Bill shrugged with a smile. “This time, I can tag along!”

Dipper’s eyes glazed over when he recalled the expedition to the bunker; the near-death experiences, the shape shifter, mostly of all the last words the creature said to him as it changed into his form. Dipper did not want to go back. And of course, he had gone back to place the gremlin there, but that was only because he hadn’t needed to stay there for long.

Dipper was pulled out of his thoughts by Mabel, bursting into the room, carrying a glass bottle.

“Hi, bro-bro!” she greeted Dipper, showing him the bottle. “Look what I got~”

“Yay, a filthy green bottle,” Dipper remarked sarcastically.

“It’s a bottle message from Mermando,” Mabel explained.

“Who’s Mermando?” Bill inquired the twins.

“He’s a part fish, part shirtless guy!” Mabel clarified. “Me and Dipper rescued him from the pool, and helped him reunite with his family!”

“I hated that guy,” Dipper said before returning to the corkboard.

“Hey, that’s no way to talk about your first kiss!” Mabel giggled, poking her brother in the back of his head.

“Wait, what?” Bill suddenly had a blank expression on his face.

“Mermando was both me and Dipper’s first kiss!” Mabel told the demon.

“No, he wasn’t!” Dipper hissed. “CPR doesn’t count as kissing!”

Bill mumbled something, but all Dipper could make out was: “harpoon” and “mermen”.

“Maybe Mermando’s family is moving to Gravity Falls! What if he wants to get back together?” Mabel vibrated with excitement.

“With you or Pine Tree?” Bill asked Mabel, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Mabel of course; she was the one who actually kissed him,” Dipper reminded the demon. “And I wouldn’t get your hopes up, Mabel.”

“Too late!” Mabel exclaimed, preparing to open the bottle. “Hopes are way up!” she got the letter out and began to read it: “’Dear Mabel’, so far so good! ‘It is with a heavy heart’, so far so good! ‘that I must inform you, I’m getting married’?!”

“And there it is,” Dipper sighed.

“’In order to prevent an undersea civil war’, ‘arranged wedding’, ‘Queen of the Manatees’!?” Mabel read the letter, sounding more and more distraught. She pulled out a picture that had been send with the letter, showing Mermando with what looked like an ordinary manatee wearing a dress and a crown. “And she’s so beautiful! This can’t be happening!”

“Oh, Mabel,” Dipper laid a hand on his sister’s shoulder, trying to comfort her. “You’ll get over him eventually.”

“If it’ll help, I can speed along my harpoon hunt,” Bill offered, also placing a hand on Mabel’s shoulder.

“You don’t understand,” Mabel pulled out her scrapbook, turning to a page titled “Summer Romances”. “On my first day here, I made this page for summer romances. Look at my luck,” she pointed to various pictures she had placed on the page, ”Turned out to be gnomes, child psycho, made out with his own hands, and now…” she placed the picture of Mermando with his manatee queen in the scrapbook, using a pen to write out “failed” over the title of the page. “I wish I could just forget about them forever…”

“Hey, if it’s any consolation, my summer mission isn’t a huge success either,” Dipper pointed out. “I’m still trying to find the author of this journal, but with this laptop smashed, I’ve lost any lead in finding him. Bill?”

“Actually,” Bill started. “My summer project is going pretty well!”

“I meant if you felt like giving me a new lead,” Dipper groaned at the demon, before realizing what Bill had said. “Wait, what summer project are you working on?”

“Wait a minute!” Mabel had been using the bottle as a spyglass and glanced at the laptop. She handed Dipper the bottle. “Dipper! Look!”

“Through your bottle?” Dipper asked.

“Just do it,” Mabel told him. Dipper took the bottle and looked through it towards the laptop, finding a very small logo with “McGucket Labs” written on it.

“Wait… Old Man McGucket!?” Dipper exclaimed in shock.

“You don’t think…” Mabel gasped and Dipper turned once more to his corkboard, beginning to line up all the clues and leads they had as to the author’s identity, and they all matched.

“So that would mean…” Dipper paused for a moment. “Old Man McGucket wrote the journals!”

“But isn’t the author like, super smart?” Mabel pointed out.

“Yes, and we’ve seen McGucket build death robots!” Dipper reminded her. “Remember the Gobblewonker?”

“He doesn’t seem like a smarty-pants, though,” Mabel remarked.

“Reading through my journal, there’s passages where the author seems delirious, almost insane,” Dipper looked through the pages in his journal, crossing one of the pages detailing Bill, with the sentence, written in blood, “Do Not Summon At All Costs”. “I think he might have been driven crazy by paranoia, or something else… And the bandages on his arm! Maybe he lost one of his fingers! It all adds up!”

 

The trio went downstairs and into the Gift Shop, finding Wendy sitting at the cash register, while Soos had paused his cleaning to, apparently, eat his own pants.

“Wendy, Soos!” Dipper yelled as they ran through the door. “We need to go see Old Man McGucket!”

“We’ll explain on the way!” Mabel promised.

The group all ran out to Soos’ car, Soos sat behind the wheel, Wendy on the front seat, Bill, Dipper and Mabel sat on the backseat with Dipper in the middle, and they drove out to the junkyard.

 

“Old Man McGucket!” Dipper called out as the group left the car and began exploring the junkyard. “Are you here?”

“Here hillbilly-billy-billy-billy,” Soos said, sounding like he was trying to lure a scared animal out.

“Here hillbilly-billy-billy-billy,” Mabel followed Soos’ example.

They managed to find a shelter that looked somewhat like a house, outside of which, Lee and Nate were spray painting the words: “McSuckit” on the side of.

“That’s good,” Nate laughed.

“Took an hour to think of this, but it was worth it,” Lee agreed.

The two teens were then quickly chased away by Old Man McGucket, exiting his house.

“Get outta here, you salt lickin’, hornswagglin’!” McGucket paused, his face turning forlorn. “McSuckit… They got me good,” then when he noticed the group watching him, a smile spread across his face. “Visitors! Come, come!” he hurried the group inside his shelter. “Pull up some rusty metal. You’re just in time for my hourly turf war with the hillbilly what lives inside my mirror!” the old man turned to a bathtub and glared at his reflection. “Quit starin’ at me when I bathe!”

“Old Man McGucket,” Dipper walked towards him. “I know you’re the author! You studied the mysteries of this town and wrote this book!” Dipper pulled out Journal 3 and showed it to McGucket.

“Dude, you’re the genius Dipper’s been searching for all summer!” Wendy explained.

“Uh, genius?” McGucket looked even more befuddled than usual. “I’m no genius. I've never done nothin' worthwhile in my life. Everyone knows I'm no good to nobody. I can't remember what I used to be, but I must've been a big failure to end up like this.”

“But the laptop has your name on it,” Soos pointed out.

“What about this book?” Dipper inquired, shoving the journal closer to McGucket and began flipping through the pages. “Are you sure you didn’t write it? Here, look closely!”

“I told you, I don’t recall,” McGucket insisted. “Everything before 1985 is just a blur. Just a hazy…” suddenly, the man’s eyes widened and he flew into a panic. “The Blind Eye! Robes! The men! My mind! They did something!”

“Who did?” Dipper asked the old man.

“I… Oh, I don’t recall,” McGucket confessed, clutching his head.

“Oh, you poor old man,” Mabel said, her voice filled with pity. “No wonder your mind’s all” she blew a raspberry and gave a thumbs down to illustrate her point. “You’ve been through something intense.”

“Well, forgetting isn’t easy,” Bill noted, finally speaking up. He had been looking through McGucket’s things while the others had been talking, not really searching for anything specific, just getting a look at the old man’s stuff.

“’Forgetting’?” Dipper echoed. “Are you saying someone or something made Old Man McGucket forget something? Is that why he’s so… odd?”

“I’m just stating a fact,” Bill shrugged, having picked up a cooking pan and jabbing it towards Dipper.

“Still, it’s the best theory we have,” Dipper countered. “If McGucket is the author, he might have learned something that someone wanted to keep a secret. Whether this person is paranormal or human, we don’t know. And we still don’t know where to begin our search.”

“Think, dude!” Wendy implored McGucket. “What is the earliest thing you can remember?”

“Uh, this is, I think,” the old man pulled a newspaper article down, showcasing McGucket being found at the History Museum.

“The History Museum!” Wendy exclaimed.

“That’s where we’re going,” Dipper said, and the group returned to the car.

“Wait, dudes,” Soos stopped them. “We don’t have enough room in the car for all of us.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that, Question Mark,” Bill stated dismissively. “Pine Tree can just sit on my lap.”

“What?” Dipper screeched. “No I can’t!”

“Why not?” Mabel smirked.

“B-because…” Dipper stuttered, looking for any kind of excuse. “Because that’s illegal and Soos might get a ticket for it.”

“Don’t worry about it, Dipper,” Wendy responded as she got into the front seat. “Blubs and Durland aren’t exactly the most observant guys.”

Dipper gave a small sigh as the rest of the group got into the car; he spend the entire trip to the museum trying not to think about how close he was to Bill, and how he was touching Bill and pretty much anything related to the situation he had found himself in.

 

When the gang arrived at the museum, it seemed completely empty; there weren’t even any security guards. The doors were open and there were no alarms either, as far as they could hear. Through sheer luck, they noticed someone observing them, as they were searching the museum, and followed the person, leading to the discovery of a secret room, filled with people in red robes.

The mysterious people had captured Lazy Susan, who was traumatized after an encounter with some gnomes, and they used an odd ray gun to seemingly erase her memories of it, but it seemed the gun had also done some mental damage to the woman; she did reveal the robed people’s name though, The Society of the Blind Eye.

The Society led Lazy Susan out, while their possible leader removed a tube-like object from the gun, wrote (Lazy) Susan Wentworth on it, and send the tube into some kind of glass pipe. After that, The Society left.

“It’s safe now,” Bill said, moving out of his hiding spot.

“Bill, did you know that Gravity Falls had a secret society?” Dipper asked the demon.

“I was aware of it,” Bill confessed slowly. “But I didn’t have many details; I have no eyes in this place. I don’t know if you noticed, but this society’s symbol is an eye with a cross through it, basically the opposite of my symbol. I can, however, tell you everything about Gravity Falls’ three biggest cults!”

“Nevermind,” Dipper shook his head. “McGucket, if these are the people who erased your memories, they must have hidden them away somewhere, like they did with Lazy Susan’s memories.”

“Then we need to find them,” Bill continued. “Red and Shooting Star should stay here, in case the members of the society come back. Specs, Question Mark, Pine Tree and I will retrieve the memory tube.”

“Whoo! Girls Club!” Wendy cheered, ruffling Mabel’s hair.

“Hang on,” Dipper interjected. “I think Bill should stay here.”

“You trying to get rid of me, Pine Tree?” Bill teased.

“No!” Dipper insisted. “I just thought it would be safer for Mabel and Wendy if you stayed here. Even if your powers aren’t as strong as they used to be, you’re still the most powerful out of all of us, plus Mabel and Wendy will be in the most vulnerable position.”

“Pshaw! Relax, dude,” Wendy laughed. “Me and Mabel can handle ourselves against some creepy bathrobe-guys!”

No further protests were made, as the pipe that had taken the tube with Lazy Susan’s memories, sucked up Soos’ hat.

“Follow that hat!” Dipper yelled and led the guys out of the room, leaving Mabel and Wendy behind.

There was a close call where they had almost been spotted by two members of The Society, but they managed to avoid detection by hiding in a diorama. After that, they managed to follow the hat to the Hall of the Forgotten. The hall was a chamber, littered with memory tubes, more than enough for every single person in Gravity Falls.

“Why are they erasing people’s memories?” Dipper questioned, picking up a nearby memory tube. “I still don’t get it.”

“Looky fellers!” McGucket called out, pointing towards one of the memory tubes. “It’s those words what people call me!”

“Oh, dude, your memories! We did it!” Soos cheered, having found and picked up his hat.

“Grabby, grabby,” McGucket said as he took the tube, setting off an alarm. “The alarm in my brain is a-ringin' again. Ah!”

“Quick! Hide!” Bill yelled, his voice filled with panic.

“Halt! Who’s there?” a voice, presumably a member of The Society, called.

“Oh no!” Dipper exclaimed.

“Run!” Soos yelled as both he and Dipper ran away.

“I told you to hide!” Bill called, running after the two, while McGucket, having heard Bill’s warning, hid away.

The three of them managed to find a spot to hide from the two members who were chasing them.

“Okay, I think we’re safe,” Dipper sighed in relief as the two members ran past them. The relief didn’t last, however, as they soon grabbed from behind and had their eyes covered.

“You’re gonna regret this,” Bill warned their assailants, summoning up a ball of blue fire, but before he could attack the men who had grabbed them, they slipped something metallic around his neck and the fire died down. “What is this?!” Bill exclaimed as the three were taken away.

When their eyes were uncovered, they were all tied to a pole, including Wendy and Mabel. Dipper noticed that the contraption around Bill’s neck resembled a collar. One of the members removed a small metal pin from the collar, locking it in place. He walked over to the presumed leader of The Society and gave it to him.

“The blond one’s a demon,” the man who had secured the collar told the leader. “Not a particularly powerful one-“

“Excuse me!” Bill shouted angrily. “I happen to be the all-powerful Bill Cipher! Once I get free, I’ll curse you whole lot with a lifetime supply of horrifying nightmares!”

“How do you even have something that can neutralize a demon’s power?” Dipper asked, ignoring Bill’s angry rant, despite the demon being right next to him.

“Our founder was familiar with demons,” the leader explained. “He used his ingenious mind to invent a way for us to remove their powers.”

“Why are you telling us this?” Wendy inquired, sounding rather mad herself.

“Because you aren’t going to remember it anyway,” the leader clarified. “In fact,” he snapped his fingers and all the members removed their hoods, revealing themselves to all be citizens in Gravity Falls, including the farmer who had given Mabel Waddles and the Pines Family had freed Octavia, the mutant cow, from, Toby Determined, Bud Gleeful, Tats, and even the guy who married a woodpecker.

But they did not recognize the leader, a bald man with a blind eye and tattoos covering his head.

“I am Blind Ivan,” he said. “And we are The Society of the Blind Eye. Formed many years ago by our founder… our founder… Does anyone remember who he was?”

“We've been usin' that ray on our own brains an awful lot,” Bud Gleeful revealed.

“As you have no doubt discovered, Gravity Falls is a town plagued with supernatural strangeness,” Blind Ivan continued. “No one knew how to stop the things that went bump in the night, so our founder invented the next best thing: a way for us to forget. We took it upon ourselves to help the troubled townsfolk by erasing the memories of the strange things they've seen. Now the people of Gravity Falls go about their lives ignorant and happy, thanks to us. And as a perk, we help ourselves forget things that trouble us. Everyone has something they'd rather forget. In fact, your own sister was about to use that ray on herself. Isn't that right?”

“Mabel? Seriously?” Dipper turned his head towards Mabel, a look of betrayal on his face.

“Ha ha… maybe…” she replied quietly.

“Don’t you see? This is ruining people’s lives!” Dipper addressed Blind Ivan. “What about Old Man McGucket? He lives in a hut and talks to animals, thanks to you. Don't you feel bad about that?”

“Mhmm… maybe a little…” the leader admitted, but lifted the memory gun and shot himself with the ray. “But not anymore. You won't be telling anyone else what you've learned here. Say good-bye to your summer.” Blind Ivan raised the pistol towards the group.

“Guys,” Soos trembled with fear. “If we’re gonna forget everything, I got some stuff I wanna get off my chest. Mabel, for half the summer, I thought your name was Maple, like the syrup. No one corrected me!”

“I only love some of my stuffed animals, and the guilt is killing me!” Mabel wailed.

“Sometimes I use big words, and I don't actually know what they mean,” Dipper confessed. “I mean, I'm supposed to be the smart guy. If I'm not the smart guy, who am I?”

“Okay, I'm not actually laid back,” Wendy admitted. “I'm stressed, like, 24/7. Have you met my family?”

“Pine Tree,” Bill turned to Dipper. His voice was calm and quiet, but Dipper could feel an underlying worry in it, and the human wondered if the demon would be affected by the ray as well. “If this is the last moment we remember each other, there’s something important I have to tell you, and I’ve been waiting for too long-“

“Oh, stop being a bunch of babies,” Blind Ivan interrupted.

“Hey!” Bill yelled at The Society’s leader. “I was in the middle of a heartfelt confession!”

“Oh, please, you’re a demon,” Ivan countered and raised the gun once more. “As if there’s anything heartfelt about you-“

Before he was able to shoot, Old Man McGucket jumped out of hiding, knocking the pistol out of Ivan’s hand; the hillbilly was carrying a sack over his shoulders.

“McGucket!?!” the group all said in unison, having not expected the ex-inventor to save them.

“I raided the mining display for weapons,” McGucket explained, freeing the gang and opening the sack. “Now fight like a hillbilly, fellers!”

The battle was mostly disorganized at first, but when Dipper caught sight of the tube with McGucket’s memories, it turned into a fight for it. Soos managed to snatch the memory gun, but Blind Ivan grabbed it again and advanced towards Dipper, who currently had the memory tube.

“Give me that tube!” he demanded.

“Never!” Dipper threw the tube into one of the many pipes, sending it flying away, leading to Dipper and Ivan both chasing after it, while the rest of the group were busy fighting the other members of The Society. “That memory belongs to McGucket!”

“The Society’s secrets belong to us!” Ivan countered. As the tube emerged from the pipe, it looked like Dipper would get it first, but then Blind Ivan tripped him, sending Dipper to the floor. Ivan grabbed the tube and pointed the memory gun towards Dipper. “End of the line,” he said as he backed Dipper into a corner. “Because of this transgression, I believe I’ve changed my mind; I’m not going to erase your memories of this summer,” Ivan typed something else into the gun. “I’m going to erase all your memories!”

Dipper was terrified; it would be one thing to have this summer erased, to forget about Soos, Wendy, Stan, Bill, and all his and Mabel’s adventures. But to forget everything… But before he could finish that line of thoughts, someone stepped in between him and Ivan, shielding Dipper.

“Bill?” Dipper looked at the demon; Bill had his back turned, his arms stretched out and was completely focused on Ivan.

“I won’t let you,” Bill growled, his voice sounding much deeper and darker than usual.

“You realize that once I hit you, I’m just going to hit him, right?” Blind Ivan pointed out. “This thing doesn’t need to charge between shots, you’re literally just sacrificing your own memories for nothing.”

But Bill didn’t move an inch; he didn’t even flinch at Ivan’s words. The gun was fired.

“NO!!!” Dipper nearly screamed, but was surprised when someone else shielded Bill from the blast. “McGucket?” Dipper gasped. The gun fired again and the hillbilly was hit once more. “Oh my gosh! Are you okay?”

“Okay as I’ll ever be!” McGucket laughed and began walking towards Ivan who kept shooting at him.

“Why- isn’t- this- working?” The Society leader exclaimed between each shot.

“Hit me with your best shot, Baldy!” McGucket said as he kept walking closer. “But my mind's been gone for thirty-odd years. You can't break what's already broken!” the old man reached Ivan and slapped the gun out of his hand. “Say goodnight, Sally!” And with that, McGucket head butted Ivan, leaving The Society leader unconscious for a while.

After that, everything was resolved pretty well; they found the metal pick needed to unlock Bill’s collar, The Society members had all memories of The Society of the Blind Eye erased, Ivan, who apparently didn’t have any memories outside of The Society, became a traveling banjo minstrel at Mabel’s insistence, they decided to keep the memory gun in case they would ever need it, and they watched the memory tube with McGucket’s memories, discovering that while he was not the Author, he had been working with the Author, on something terrible at that.

It was hard to discover how McGucket had been the one creating The Society, with the intentions of helping others, and then go completely crazy, erasing all memories he found unpleasant, eventually becoming the McGucket they all knew today. There was an odd moment at the end of the tape, where the McGucket on film had yelled out: ‘Yroo Xrksvi! Girzmtov!’ before the video cut out, and Dipper had noticed that Bill looked away at that point with an unreadable expression on his face.

But in the end, McGucket was happy, knowing that he could now begin the process of recovering all his memories. And while he couldn’t remember who the Author was, he did volunteer to try and repair the laptop.

The whole adventure had even convinced Mabel not to try and forget about her failed summer romances, so all in all, everything was getting back on track.

 

Bill had driven back to the shack with the rest of the gang after they dropped off McGucket at the dump. However, the demon was already on his way back home.

“Bill, wait!” Dipper called, running up to him. “I… I wanted to ask you about something…”

“… Alright,” Bill nodded his head and walked towards the forest, leaving Dipper to follow him. “So what do you wanna talk about?” Bill asked after they were far enough away from the others. “Is this about my confession?”

“Actually,” Dipper swallowed before he looked into Bill’s eyes, a serious look on his face. “I want to ask you about your ‘summer project’.”

“Oh, that!” Bill laughed. “You don’t need to worry about that, Pine Tree! I promise it’s nothing nefarious or anything!”

“I don’t care!” Dipper snarled, before taking a deep breath to calm down. “Look, I’ve noticed that you’ve been taking things, bits and pieces from different creatures we’ve face, and unless it’s for some kind of demonic scrapbook, which I highly doubt it is, you tell me right now what all this is for!”

“I told you, it’s none of your concern!” Bill was clearly beginning to get frustrated.

“Does it have anything to do with me or Mabel?” Dipper asked. “If it does, then it does concern me!”

Bill paused for a moment. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but closed it again. Finally, he replied, in a gentle tone of voice: “I can’t tell you what it is at the moment, Pine Tree… Calling it a summer project might be a little exaggerating since I’m not even sure I’ll be finished before you and Shooting Star go home. In fact, it might turn out to be a complete waste of time! So while I can’t tell you what it is now, I promise that I’ll tell both you and Shooting Star about it, once it’s ready.”

“… Alright,” Dipper agreed. “But, since you mentioned it, what were you going to confess back at the museum?”

“Oh! Well,” Bill scratched the back of his head and looked away. “Just that I’ve been enjoying spending time with you and Shooting Star, and that even if I forgot about it, I would still miss it; that’s all. I gotta go now!” And with that, the demon teleported away, leaving Dipper behind, forced to walk back to the shack alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much for reading! Originally, I was planning on having an author written chapter taking place after The Love God as the next chapter, but I've been doing some reconfiguring of the chapters, and this next chapter takes place right after Blendin's Game! The next chapter will be "I Dream of Genie".
> 
> And I promise, the chapter after the next one, Bill and Dipper will finally get together! If they don't, you have permission to... I dunno, whatever you want!
> 
> Please leave a comment if you want to! I love to receive comments:3


	10. I Dream of Genie

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dipper finds a magic lamp with a genie inside; only this genie isn't too interested in fulfilling Dipper's wishes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> YES! FINALLY! So sorry this took so long! I'm moving out soon and have been busy as hell! Still, I really like how this chapter turned out for the most part considering it was such a late addition. Hope you'll enjoy it!

Dipper found himself walking through the forest at night. If you asked him what he was doing here, he wouldn’t know how to answer; he honestly had no idea why he was here.

The wind was cool, rustling through the leaves in the trees and sending a pleasant chill through Dipper, the stars were bright, twinkling playfully to him, and the moon was full, casting an ethereal down to earth.

Dipper sighed happily; he might not know what he was doing here, but at least he was at peace.

“Pine Tree?” a voice sounded from behind. Dipper turned around and saw Bill, starring at the human with his one yellow eye that seemed to almost glow in the moonlight.

“Bill?” Dipper responded, backing away as the demon slowly stepped closer. “What are you doing here?”

“I was hoping to find you,” Bill replied in a low voice, walking ever so slowly towards Dipper.

Dipper soon found himself backed against a tree, Bill placing his arms on either side of the human, preventing any escape.

“There’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you,” Bill continued. Dipper turned his head away, unable to look upon the golden demon. Bill used his right hand to gently take Dipper’s chin and turn his head towards the demon. “Look at me, Pine Tree, this is important.”

“Bill…” Dipper gasped, feeling a shiver run through his body.

“I- Watch out!” Bill interrupted himself, quickly covering Dipper’s body with his own. Dipper felt a small jolt from Bill, as if something had hit him. The demon let go of the human, in order to throw a ball of blue fire over his shoulder. The sharp light from the fire allowed Dipper to see what had attacked them; it was a cat-like creature, about the size of a bobcat, its most noticeable features being its rather flat face and a bushy tail that looked like it was made of porcupine quills rather than fur.

The fireball caused the creature to run away, as it had apparently not expected its would-be victims to be well-versed in magic. Dipper noticed Bill’s rather pain filled expression and was hit with a wave of worry.

“Are you okay?” Dipper asked the demon, his voice trembling slightly with concern.

“I’m fine, Pine Tree,” Bill tried to assure the human, but his assurance was followed by a moan of pain.

“Here, let me see,” Dipper insisted. Bill turned around, allowing the human to see his back; his back was heavily covered with long quills that had left big holes in his shirt. “What was that thing?”

“I think the author called it a ‘panther-pine’,” Bill groaned. “Its tail is made of venomous quills and it does have a tendency to be overconfident about its abilities.”

“Venomous?” Dipper questioned. Looking at the quills, he noticed a faint green glow emitting from them. “Why did you do that, Bill?”

“Made sense,” Bill simply shrugged. “Venom is a lot more dangerous to you than to me. Besides, I hate to see you in pain.”

Dipper didn’t reply with words, he merely began to carefully pull out the quills embedded in the demon’s back.

“Ouch!” Bill exclaimed in pain when Dipper began his procedure. “What are you doing, Pine Tree?”

“Well, I have to do something,” Dipper responded, pulling out the last quill. “There. Now, take off your shirt.”

“Oh, Pine Tree, so straight forward~” Bill smirked as he removed his torn up shirt.

“Shut up, Bill, I’m trying to help you,” Dipper blushed, forcing himself to gaze upon the demon’s toned, beautiful back. Said back was now filled with small wounds, dripping a green blood-like substance. Dipper placed his hand on Bill’s back, trying to focus his magic as much as possible, and began to trace his hand across the demon’s warm skin. It seemed to work, as the wounds closed, and the green goo dried up and disappeared, leaving only the smooth backside behind.

“Well done, my little Pine Tree,” Bill praised the human. “You’re getting better and better at this. Of course, it would only be a matter of time before I healed up, so it was still sorta a waste of your powers.”

“It wasn’t a waste!” Dipper countered with an angry frown. “You’re not the only one who dislikes seeing their loved ones in pain!”

“’Loved ones’?” Bill inquired, a big smirk spreading across his face.

“I- I meant-“ Dipper didn’t get to finish as the demon once again grabbed his face, forcing him to look at Bill.

“If I didn’t know any better, I would say that was just a confession,” Bill nearly purred, leaning closer to Dipper. “But enlighten me then, Pine Tree; what did you mean?”

“I…” Dipper gasped, searching for any kind of excuse that could get him out of this situation; the prospect of being mocked by Bill, being rejected by the attractive demon was too much for him to handle. “I… I meant exactly what I said…” Dipper admitted, closing his eyes. ”I love you, Bill…”

”Pine Tree, look at me,” Bill’s voice was quiet, nearly tender. Dipper opened his eyes and found himself trapped in the demon’s gaze.

Dipper didn’t know who initiated it, but before he knew it, he was kissing Bill; it was rough and needy, filled all the emotions the two had been hiding away for so long. Bill began to rip off his and Dipper’s remaining clothes, leaving them both naked, grinding up against each other.

Then Dipper felt it; Bill penetrating him. In the back of his mind, Dipper knew it should have hurt, but he didn’t care, he was too lost in the sensation of feeling Bill’s smooth, warm skin on his own.

“Hey, Dipper! Are you up yet?” Dipper heard his sister’s voice call.

Dipper woke up, lying in his bed, feeling the leftover arousal from his previous dream.

“What is it, Mabel?” he groaned, trying to will away his morning wood.

“Grunkle Stan is looking for you,” Mabel was standing in the doorway to their room, hopefully unaware about her brother’s wet dream.

“Alright,” Dipper nodded. “I just… I just need a quick shower.”

“A shower? Really?” Mabel exclaimed incredulously. “Does that have anything to do with the fact that Bill’s coming today?”

“Maybe…” Dipper answered vaguely with a small blush.

“You know, you should have met Bill years ago,” Mabel laughed. “Getting a crush on him has done wonders to your cleaning habits.” And with that, his sister left.

Dipper decided to take a cold shower rather than… the other possibility; he did not want a repeat of last time, when Bill had interrupted him in the middle of his fantasy.

After willing away the unwanted erection and getting dressed, Dipper went downstairs to search for his grunkle. He found Mabel in the gift shop, behind the cash register.

“Mabel, where is Grunkle Stan?” he asked her.

“I’m in the museum, kid!” Stan called out from the museum part of the shack. “Since Wendy, Soos and that demon friend of yours are all reporting late, I have to clean up the broken exhibit!”

“I’m surprised you didn’t just get me to do it!” Dipper called back with a small chuckle.

“That’s because I need you to find a new attraction!” Stan responded. “We need something to replace the picture of a horse riding another horse! Someone, probably Soos or the pig, destroyed it!”

Dipper looked over at Mabel, who had a guilt-ridden expression on her face and made a shushing motion to Dipper.

“Alright, you want me to go into the forest and look for something?” Dipper asked, slightly hopeful.

“No, I want you to go to the attic and find an old attraction we can pass off as new!” Stan replied, dashing all his nephew’s hopes.

Dipper groaned, but did as he was told and went back to the attic.

 

Looking through dusty boxes in the attic, Dipper managed to find a couple of things; like a picture of a viney cement-print, a plaque with the words “Big Root” attached, and a box filled with small balls of fluffy yarn with “Trobbles” written on it.

Dipper once again wondered how people were able to get tricked by these things; considering his recent findings about the Society of the Blind Eye and their memory erasing ray gun, Dipper could see how the citizens of Gravity Falls would be fooled, but tourists from outer town?

He finally reached the last item in the box and pulled out a dusty, old oil lamp.

“Did you find anything, kid?” Stan asked as he entered through the attic door.

“I found this,” Dipper showed his Grunkle the lamp.

“Don’t get your hopes up, kid; that’s just an ordinary oil lamp,” Stan assured him. “I got from some paranoid, middle-aged man who claimed there was a genie inside it, but for some reason wanted to get rid of it. I bought from him for chump change, but of course, when I rubbed no magical genie came out. I had it as an attraction for a short while, told suckers it was a magic lamp that could grant wishes, but that terrible consequences would always follow. People started constantly coming with suggestions for wishes you could make that couldn’t possibly result in catastrophe. I got sick of it, so I stopped showcasing it and hid it up here.”

“Well, can I keep it then?” Dipper inquired.

“Sure, why not?” Stan shrugged. He picked up a couple of the old attractions Dipper had found and left the attic.

Once his Grunkle was gone, Dipper picked up a nearby old rag that was lying on the floor, and cleaned the dust of the lamp.

“There might be nothing magical about it, but it’s still pretty neat looking,” Dipper remarking, looking at his reflection in the now polished lamp.

“Why, thank you!” a voice sounded from behind him. Dipper jerked around so quickly he fell on his; in front of him stood a young man, dark-skinned, with glowing green eyes, long black hair that reached past his mid-back and fell over his shoulders, dressed in a very small dark green top, green, see-through silk pants, and an abundance of golden jewelry, including an armlet, an anklet, three chokers, earrings and a circlet.

“Where did you come from?!” Dipper shouted at the oddly-dressed stranger.

“From my home in the lamp, of course!” the stranger replied, smiling cheerfully. “My name is Fares.”

“But Grunkle Stan said he there wasn’t a genie in the lamp!” Dipper protested, feeling confused. Fares stretched out a hand and helped Dipper up from the floor.

“That’s because, I’m technically only a half-genie,” Fares confessed. “I have none of the laws that trap a full-blooded genie, like becoming a slave to whoever rubs the lamp, I can fulfill as many wishes as I want, but I’m not forced to fulfill all wishes. The things your uncle wished for, I could not help him with, as the downside to my freedom as a half-genie is my incredibly limited magic; I can’t change things or force them to happen, I can only create things from a person’s mind.”

“I don’t understand,” Dipper shook his head.

“I guess another way to put it is, I can make your dreams come true, but only by making the dream itself physical,” Fares tried to explain. “But, here I am, rambling on about things you probably don’t care about.”

“No, no!” Dipper quickly amended. “I’m actually very interested! Follow me!” Dipper left the attic, looking behind him to see Fares following him. He led the genie to his room, taking the lamp along, placed the lamp on his desk and showed Fares the journal. “This is one of many journals, explaining the supernatural phenomena in this town.”

“And you wrote all that? That’s so impressive!” Dipper couldn’t quite place it, but there was something in Fares’ tone of voice that almost sounded… condescending.

“Actually, I didn’t write all of it,” Dipper confessed. “I’m just… picking up where the original author left off.”

“Still, you must quite intelligent for a human,” Fares complimented with a wide smile, placing a hand on Dipper’s shoulder.

“Could you maybe tell me more about you?” Dipper asked, shaking off Fares’ hand. “I imagine half-genies are pretty rare.”

“As far as I know,” Fares shrugged. “My mother is a genie who fell in love with my father, her former master; he had one wish left, when he asked my mother what she would wish for. She replied that the loneliness of her home, the lamp, was crushing at times, and that she wanted company. She had hoped my father would take the hint and be with her, but he didn’t. At that point in time, they had already laid with each other, and my mother was pregnant with me, but my father used his last wish on himself; my mother never told what exactly he wished for, only that afterwards she was forced to return to her lamp, and she never saw him again.”

“I’m… I’m very sorry to hear that,” Dipper attempted to comfort Fares.

“I honestly don’t care,” the genie responded. “My father didn’t deserve my mother.”

“Do you wanna go on, or do you wanna stop?” Dipper asked, trying to be sensitive to Fares’ emotions, but still curious as to what happened.

“After my mother gave birth to me, she used her powers to give me whatever my heart desired,” Fares continued. “One day, I asked her what she wanted, and she told me she wanted to die, her heart still broken from my father’s betrayal. Then I wished for her to die and for me to take her place.”

“You did what?” Dipper exclaimed in shock.

“If my mother wished to die, I was not going to force to spend an eternity fulfilling other people’s wishes,” Fares simply stated. “That was the first wish I ever fulfilled.”

“You’re… You’re not going to kill me, right?” Dipper gulped in fear, his eyes wide.

“Do you want to die?” Fares inquired playfully. “Ha ha, you’re such an adorable human!”

“I’m gonna take that as a no,” Dipper mumbled and left the room to go downstairs. “Are you coming?” he asked Fares when he saw that the genie wasn’t following.

“Only if you bring the lamp along,” Fares replied. “I can’t touch it myself, and I have to stay close to it at all times.”

“Sorry,” Dipper ran back and picked up the lamp, heading downstairs with Fares.

 

Dipper and Fares arrived in the gift shop, Mabel still standing behind the cash register.

“Hey Dipper, who’s your new friend?” Mabel eyed Fares like a piece of candy.

“He’s a half-genie that I summoned from a lamp I found in the attic,” Dipper explained.

“Nice to meet you,” Fares greeted Mabel with a handshake. “My name is Fares.”

“My name is Mabel,” the girl smiled at him. “So, since you’ve just been summoned from a lamp, you wouldn’t happen to have a girlfriend, would you?”

“Actually, I prefer the company of men,” Fares smiled back at Mabel.

“Alright,” Mabel sighed. “Man, it’s not fair, Dipper! You keep getting with all the hot guys!”

“What are you talking about?” Dipper squeaked.

“The Huldra, this genie,” Mabel clarified. “And let’s not forget Bill.”

“First of all, Twigs only wanted to marry me so he could become human,” Dipper argued. “Just because I was the one who summoned Fares and he happens to be gay, doesn’t mean he’s interested in me, and Bill’s not even interested me, so you shouldn’t even mention him!”

“Who’s Bill?” Fares looked back and forth on Mabel and Dipper, not knowing which one would answer.

“He’s Dipper’s boyfriend,” Mabel giggled.

“No, he’s not!” Dipper yelled, his voice cracking a little. “We’re just friends!”

“But you like him as more than a friend~” Mabel teased her brother.

“So what if I do?” Dipper sighed. “It’s not like that’s gonna change anything…”

“Hey, maybe your genie friend can help you?” Mabel suggested.

“Oh, sorry,” Fares apologized. “I can’t change other people’s emotions… I can use Dipper’s memories to create a new Bill who does love him though!”

“No,” Dipper responded, shaking his head. “Even if you could make Bill love me, I wouldn’t want that, and I definitely don’t want a Bill-clone who’s forced to love me.”

“Why not?” Fares cocked his head seemingly confused.

“How about you help me looking for creatures in the forest, and I’ll explain it to you?” Dipper propositioned the genie.

“I would love that,” Fares grinned and patted Dipper on the head.

Dipper was once again weirded out by Fares’ behavior, but shrugged it off and left the shack with the genie.

 

“So, please explain it to me,” Fares asked Dipper while the two were walking through the woods.

“Well, it’s not that easy to explain,” Dipper admitted. “I do love Bill, and I want him to love me too… But I want him to love me because of me, because he really thinks I’m someone worth loving, and not because he was forced into it. A while ago, I had a crush on a girl named Wendy, she was dating this other boy named Robbie, and he used this weird CD to brainwash her into staying in the relationship… I don’t wanna be like that, I wanna be worthy of another person’s love.”

“I really don’t get it,” Fares shook his head. “Who’s to say you aren’t worthy of love? If that were the case, wouldn’t one person loving you mean that all people should love you? Does love really have to be something you earn? What has this Bill done to be worthy of your love?”

“He’s saved my life on numerous times,” Dipper explained, a smile spreading across his face. “He’s annoying at times, but other times he’s surprisingly sweet… He’s quickly become one of my best friends. He might be the smartest person I know, but he’s still such a dork. And he’s fiercely protective to me and Mabel.”

“Most of the things you just said could easily be applied to more than half the population on earth,” Fares pointed out with a frown.

“Maybe,” Dipper shrugged. “I guess love really doesn’t make much sense, does it?”

“It really doesn’t,” Fares nodded. “In fact, some people who get kidnapped fall in love with their captor.”

“You mean Stockholm syndrome?” Dipper questioned.

“Yes, I’ve seen it happen many, many times,” Fares grinned again.

“Why are you smiling?” Dipper began stepping away from Fares, suddenly feeling very threatened by the genie.

“I really do have a weakness for adorable humans,” Fares merely said before Dipper suddenly blacked out.

 

When Dipper regained consciousness and opened his eyes, he realized quickly that he wasn’t in the forest anymore; he was in a big room without any windows, walls painted maroon, floor dark, polished wood covered in expensive carpets, the only light emitting from golden floor torches, a scent of sandalwood incense filling the air.

Dipper was lying on a big pile of pillows and blankets, now dressed in a similar outfit to Fares, only his were blue, had loose see-through sleeves and instead of the see-through pants, he wore what looked and felt like satin booty-shorts and a see-through cloak hanging around his legs. Instead of Fares’ assortment of jewelry, Dipper wore golden cuffs around his wrists and a golden collar around his neck, a chain linking the two cuffs together and another chain leading to Fares, who held the other end of the chain tightly in his hands.

“What’s going on?” Dipper asked the genie. “Why did you put me in this? Where are we?”

“Tsk, tsk,” Fares tutted and walked closer to Dipper who was attempting to rise from the pillows. “You are much too vocal; I will have to train that out of you. But, considering you’re going to be here for a while, I will answer your questions; I have a certain… love for humans, I guess you could call it. Whenever I’m summoned from my lamp, if the human meets a certain… criteria, I will take them as a pet, to keep me company in my lamp. I train them, like you would any pet, give them whatever they want in exchange for obedience, and then once I grow bored of them, I release them back into the world. I must say, watching them try to survive on their own after they’ve grown used to being taken care of me is quite entertaining. Of course, it results in them selling my lamp to someone else, meaning I get a new opportunity for a pet, and the cycle continues!”

“You’re insane,” Dipper gasped, trying to move away from Fares, but found himself unable to because of the chain.

“Hey, now,” Fares frowned. “You humans take advantage of genies all the time; enslaving them, forcing them to fulfill your selfish desires. I’m just taking something in return for my work. I promise, for the next couple decades, all your wishes will come true, all I ask in exchange is that you obey me.”

“I don’t want anything!” Dipper insisted. “Just let me go!”

“I had hoped younger humans would be easier to train,” Fares remarked thoughtfully. “Who knows? Maybe you will be; after all, I just need to break you and rebuild you.”

“No!” Dipper shouted. He tried to break the chain using his hands, but found himself unable to. Then he attempted to break the chain by biting it, which also didn’t work.

“So aggressive,” Fares shook his head. “Come now, there’s no need for throwing a tantrum. Why don’t you give me a wish to fulfill, and then we’ll take it from there?”

“I wish for you to leave me alone!” Dipper snarled at the genie.

Fares looked stunned at first before a smirk took over his face. Dipper only managed to blink his eyes, and when he opened them again, he found himself in a black void. Or, he thought at first it was a void, but when he reached out his arms, he could feel walls around him and a ceiling above him. On the black wall in front of him, green text appeared reading: ‘Don’t worry! I’ll forgive you and take you back, once you’re ready to apologize. Until then, enjoy.’

Dipper sat down and pulled his legs close to him; he was not going to give in to the genie.

 

“Hello, Shooting Star!” Bill greeted happily as he stepped into the shack. “Always a joy to have you brightening my day!”

“Oh, what’s put you in such a great mood?” Shooting Star asked as she leaned in over the counter.

“I’ve gotten a great idea for an addition to my routine, and I can’t wait for Pine Tree to try it out!” Bill explained, giddy with excitement.

“Sorry, Dipper’s not in at the moment; he went out into the woods with his new genie friend.”

“Genie friend?” Bill’s face suddenly turned very serious.

“Yeah, his name is Fares,” Shooting Star clarified. “Is there something wrong, Bill?”

“There might be… I wouldn’t expect you to know this, Shooting Star, but genies, or djinns, are closely related to demons; most of them are very hostile, crafty and dangerous. They’re all-powerful beings who have been trapped by humans and forced to use said powers to fulfill others wishes, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise.”

“But… Fares seemed really sweet,” Shooting Star frowned. “I’ll go out and look for them. You stay here in case some customers come.”

 

Shooting Star came back a short while later, carrying an oil lamp and Pine Tree’s hat.

“This is all I found,” Shooting Star sounded distraught. “Did Fares really do something to Dipper?”

“I don’t know,” Bill admitted. “It seems likely. At the very least, something happened that made him return to his lamp.”

“What do we do?”

“We’ll have to go in there. But, remember, Shooting Star; if this Fares did do something to your brother, he’s very dangerous and cannot be trusted.”

“Gotcha, Bill,” Shooting Star nodded.

“This is going to be somewhat similar to travelling into the Mindscape,” Bill explained as he summoned his energy. “A djinn’s home is basically a pocket dimension, bound by laws akin to this dimension.”

Bill projected his energy around them and transported the two into the lamp.

 

When Mabel and Bill arrived in the genie’s domain, they found themselves in a long, wide and rather dark hallway. The only source of light were a couple of small torches hung on the wall, the only decoration in sight.

“Alright, Shooting Star,” Bill addressed Mabel. “We’re going to find the djinn and figure out what happened to Pine Tree; if the djinn had nothing to do with it, we’ll leave and look for Pine Tree in the forest.”

“And if Fares is behind Dipper’s disappearance?” Mabel asked the demon.

Bill didn’t respond, he simply began walking forward down the hallway. Mabel followed the demons brisk pace, walking beside him through the genie’s home.

“Bill, please answer me.”

“I don’t know!” Bill snarled, his eye gleaming red.

“Don’t yell at me!” Mabel glared at the demon. “In any case, we’re getting Dipper back, right?”

“Of course!” Bill responded in a frustrated tone and threw his hands in the air. “What I meant was, I don’t know what I’ll do with the djinn!”

“What do you mean, ‘what you’ll do’?” Mabel cocked her head to the side. “We’ll just rescue Dipper and leave, simple as that.”

“Maybe for a human,” Bill grumbled.

“Why would it be different for a demon?”

“This is about principle, Shooting Star!” Bill shouted. “Another demon has taken something that belongs to me! And he must be punished for that! My instincts are screaming at me to find and kill him, but I can’t because I promised Pine Tree I wouldn’t kill anyone!”

“Something that belongs to you? Are you talking about Dipper?” Mabel gasped. “Are you, perhaps, jealous of Fares?”

Bill stopped in his tracks and pointed a finger at Mabel. “Shooting Star-“ he was, however, interrupted when a wall suddenly sprung up from the floor, splitting the hallway in two and separating Bill and Mabel.

“Bill!” Mabel called out, hoping the demon could hear her.

“I’m right here, Shooting Star!” Mabel could faintly hear Bill’s voice respond. “Stay put! I’ll find a way back to you! Be aware of the djinn!”

“Okay!” Mabel yelled back and leaned against the wall with a sigh. Now all she could do was stay there and wait, hoping that Bill would be able to find her, somehow.

Barely a minute had passed before Mabel heard a sound and looked up, seeing a door forming across her. She smiled, thinking it was Bill, but the door opened and out stepped Fares.

“Ah, Mabel! I’m surprised to see you,” Fares smiled at her.

“Fares,” Mabel looked at the genie intently. “Where is my brother?”

“Your brother?” Fares looked confused. “Why are you asking that?”

“You mean you don’t know where he is?” Mabel started to feel rather overwhelmed by everything; if her brother wasn’t here, that could mean something even worse had kidnapped him or perhaps killed him. “Please, Fares, can’t you use your magic to figure out where Dipper is? I found your lamp in the forest, and there was no sign of him! Please, I want to see my brother!”

“Calm down, Mabel,” Fares chuckled. “Your brother is right here; I was merely surprised you came looking for him.” Fares stepped aside, and standing behind him was Dipper, but he was still wearing his hat. Mabel found that rather odd, since she had found Dipper’s hat with the lamp.

“Mabel, what are you doing here?” Dipper asked her as he ran over to her and gave her a hug.

“I was looking for you!” Mabel replied. “Why did you disappear like that?”

“Sorry, Mabel,” Dipper apologized, a small blush spreading across his cheeks. “A lot of things happened very suddenly…”

“What do you mean?”

“You see, Mabel,” Fares walked over to them, grabbed Dipper’s left hand and showed it to Mabel; Dipper was wearing a big diamond ring on his left ring finger. “Your brother and I have decided to get married.”

“Married!?!” Mabel exclaimed. “Dipper, you literally met this guy today! And what about Bill?”

“I’ll leave you two alone to discuss this,” Fares said and walked back through the door, the door disappearing after he went through it.

“Mabel…” Dipper sighed forlornly. “Let’s face it; Bill was never going to love me. But Fares, he loves me so much! I know we just met each other, but he understands me in a way no one else has done before!”

“That sounds great, Dipper,” Mabel answered carefully. There was something about her brother that seemed really off, only Mabel couldn’t exactly put her finger on what it was. “But maybe you should think it more through?”

Dipper got a very pouty expression on his face. “How can you even say that, Mabel? I thought you would be happy for me! Why can’t you just accept that I have found my true love?”

“Okay, okay!” Mabel tried to calm her brother down from his sudden tantrum. There was definitely something wrong with Dipper, and Mabel had an idea it had something to do with Fares. Maybe Fares was somehow controlling her brother? But how? Mabel looked at the diamond ring. “… Hey, Dip-Dop? Mind if I see that ring real quick?”

“Alright,” Dipper shrugged, his previous anger apparently forgotten. He placed his left hand in front of Mabel, showing off his ring. Mabel quickly grabbed her brother’s hand and ripped the ring of his finger. “Hey! Why did you do that?” Dipper yelled.

Mabel began walking away from her brother slowly. “Alright, Dipper, how are you feeling now?”

“I’m angry that you stole my engagement ring!” Dipper responded and stomped his foot in the ground. “Give it back!”

“Look, Dipper, something’s clearly wrong with you,” Mabel tried to sound as calm as possible. “I don’t know what Fares did to you, but I promise I’ll help you!”

Just then, Dipper was hit in the back by a familiar blue fireball; his entire body turned ash gray, before it blew away like dust.

 

Bill was running down the hall, mentally kicking himself for putting Shooting Star in her current position; she was alone in a powerful, and possibly evil, creature’s domain with no way to defend herself. Bill only hoped the djinn was more interested in him than her.

As he was running, he finally came face to face with the djinn, standing in the middle of the hallway, looking at Bill.

“I don’t believe I’ve met you before,” the djinn cocked his head to the side.

“I could say the same for you,” Bill responded. “I’m gonna make this very simple, djinn; I’m here for my Pine Tree.”

“Hmm, I’m rather sure I don’t have any trees,” the djinn replied. “Pines or otherwise.”

“Urgh, I meant, Dipper Pines,” Bill groaned, preferring to refer to humans by their soul names.

“Oh, him,” the djinn’s eyes lit up. “Why didn’t you say so? You must be that Bill I’ve heard so much about!”

“I don’t care about pleasantries, djinn!” Bill snarled. “I want my Pine Tree now!”

“Very well,” the djinn shrugged, a big smile on his face; he stepped aside, Bill barely having time to register anything before he was nearly knocked down by a sudden force.

“Bill! I’m so happy to see you!” Pine Tree’s voice sounded. Bill looked down and saw that it had been Pine Tree who nearly knocked him over, the human’s arms now wrapped tightly around Bill and his head nuzzling into the demon’s chest. “Bill… there’s something I need to tell you, and I promised myself I would do it the next time I saw you…” Pine Tree looked into Bill’s eyes, such love and devotion in the human’s gaze. Bill glared back and wrapped his left hand in blue fire and touched Pine Tree’s shoulder, turning him to dust.

“Why did you do that?” the djinn gasped in surprise.

“That wasn’t Pine Tree,” Bill snarled. “Don’t try to fool me with a hollow shell!”

“How did you-“ a smug look took over the djinn’s face. “You’re a demon, aren’t you? You couldn’t see a soul, that’s how you knew! Oh, this is priceless! I thought you were just some human with magical abilities, but no! You’re a demon! And you fell in love with a human!”

“And what do we have here? The pot calling the kettle black?”

“Oh, no, I’m not in love with the human!” the djinn assured him. “But I must admit my curiosity is piqued; that boy must be something special if he can seduce a demon.”

“Pine Tree didn’t seduce me,” Bill scoffed. “That kid can barely watch recite a bad pickup line, let alone full-blown seduction.”

“And yet, you fell for him, so what does that say about you?” the djinn smirked. “Look, I’m feeling generous, so how about this? I will keep Dipper, and in exchange, I’ll give you two perfect Dippers who’ll both love and adore you,” as the djinn said that, he snapped his fingers and suddenly, Bill had two Pine Trees hanging from an arm each, looking at him with those love filled eyes.

“No,” Bill disintegrated the two fake Pine Trees. “The real Pine Tree is the perfect one.”

“How can he be the perfect if he won’t love you?” the djinn cocked his head to the side again. “I don’t get it; you want him to love you, he won’t, I give you two of him that does love and you reject them?”

“I barely understand it myself,” Bill shook his head. “But just because I don’t understand it, doesn’t change the fact that I want the real Pine Tree, not a copy!”

“Even if he would rather stay with me?” the djinn once again snapped his fingers, and in front of Bill appeared another fake Pine Tree, this one looking at him with sorrowful and fear filled gaze.

“Why, Bill?” the fake Pine Tree sobbed. “Why can’t you just let me be happy with Fares? Why do you have to be so selfish?”

Bill shot another fireball at the fake Pine Tree. “Stop it,” he glared at the djinn. “It’s not real.”

“But you know how my powers work, don’t you?” the djinn smirked. “There is a part of you that truly believes that’s what the human thinks of you.”

Bill snapped; he summoned another fireball and readied himself to throw it, when the djinn teleported away. Bill threw the fireball into the wall in frustration, leaving a burnt mark. He then proceeded to repeatedly punch and kick the wall until a part of the wall broke down.

Bill jumped through the hole in the wall, right before it regenerated, and started running back to Shooting Star.

He found her, talking to another fake Pine Tree, and he couldn’t help himself; he was still so angry after his encounter with the djinn, he threw a fireball right at the fake Pine Tree and watched it disintegrate right before Shooting Star’s eyes.

“Bill!” Shooting Star screamed. “Why did you do that?!”

“That wasn’t the real Pine Tree, Shooting Star,” Bill responded. He turned around and began walking down the hall again. “Stay close; I don’t want the djinn to separate us again.”

“What?” Shooting Star followed Bill and grabbed his arm. “What does Fares have to do with this?”

“He created that fake Pine Tree from your memories and thoughts!” Bill hissed.

“So...” Mabel looked down. “Fares did kidnap Dipper, didn’t he?”

“He basically admitted as much to me.”

“You’re not gonna kill him, are you?”

Bill sighed. “If he tries to hurt you or Pine Tree, I won’t hesitate to.”

 

Dipper didn’t know how long he had been in the empty void, but it felt like it had been a long time. It was bound to, when you had no way to entertain or distract yourself. The room was also starting to feel incredibly warm, much warmer than when Dipper arrived.

Dipper tried to stretch his legs, but found that they hit the invisible wall. That was odd; Dipper could have sworn he had been able to stretch out his legs when he arrived. He got up from the floor, but realized that he couldn’t stand upright; the ceiling was too low!

“Is… is the room shrinking?” Dipper gasped in horrifying realization; if the room was indeed getting smaller, it wouldn’t be long before he was completely squashed.

Dipper knew what he had to do; he didn’t like it, but he needed to stay alive until Bill or Mabel came to rescue him.

“I’m sorry!” he called out. “Please, take me back! I’m sorry!”

Dipper felt himself getting teleported and soon found himself back in Fares’ room, lying on the mountain of pillows and blankets, the genie starring smugly at him.

“Now, was that really so hard?” Fares tilted his head. “We could have avoided all this, if you had just behaved to begin with.”

“Right,” Dipper gave the genie an awkward smile, trying his best to coil his anger. “I… I promise I’ll be good from now on.”

“That sounds lovely~” Fares summoned a bowl of green grapes and sat down beside Dipper, the bowl on his lap. “You must be so hungry.”

“Actually, I would rather have some water-“ Dipper was interrupted by Fares, who grabbed the human’s chin, rather roughly.

“You’ll eat what, and when, I tell you to,” Fares whispered in a rather threatening manner.

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry!” Dipper quickly apologized.

“You need to get better at this,” Fares released Dipper’s chin and stuck a grape into the human’s mouth. “I don’t want to have to punish you again.”

Dipper chewed the grape slowly, looking at the ground.

Right as Fares was about to give Dipper another grape, a big thud came from behind a wall. Then the whole room shook, and part of the wall broke down, and out from the hole stepped Bill and Mabel.

Dipper, remembering what he was wearing, picked up one of the pillows near him and used it to cover his body, a big blush appearing on his face.

“You lied to me, Fares!” Mabel yelled and pointed an accusing finger at the genie. “Me and Bill are taking Dipper home now, and you can’t stop us!”

“Oh, but I didn’t lie,” Fares smiled friendly, but with an underlying anger in his eyes. “Your brother wants to stay with me, right?” Fares turned his gaze towards Dipper.

“No!” Dipper shouted and got up from the floor, still holding the pillow. “I don’t want anything to do with you!”

“Huh, seems like you’re a little liar, pet,” Fares glared at Dipper and began moving towards him, but Bill stepped in between, the demon’s face filled with rage.

“Now, you listen here,” Bill growled at the genie. “I am going to take Shooting Star and Pine Tree, and we are all three going to leave, and if you as much as try to hurt these saplings, I will rip you limb from limb, until you’re nothing more than a bloody carcass.”

“Oh, by all means,” Fares smirked. “You’re more than welcome to leave… if your ‘saplings’ can handle a little test,” the genie snapped his fingers, and a black rectangular box enveloped Bill. Dipper ran over to Mabel as Fares snapped his fingers again, and another box, identical to the one before, appeared. The two boxes then began switching and changing places, faster and faster, until it was impossible to keep track of which was which.

Fares snapped his fingers once more, and the boxes stopped and disappeared. In their place were two identical Bills who both looked a bit dizzy.

“Now, your demon friend was able to recognize the fake from the real,” the genie explained. “But I’m curious; would two humans, with no ability to see souls, be able to distinguish the real from the fake? So, I used the memories, thoughts and dreams of the demon’s ‘little Pine Tree’, to create a copy. You’re allowed to ask them one question or ask them to do one thing, and then you have to decide which one is the real. If you guess right, I’ll let all of you leave and never bother you again, but if you’re wrong, Dipper has to stay with me, while the rest of you go.”

“This is easy!” Mabel exclaimed to her brother. “We’ll just ask them something only Bill would know!”

“We can’t, Mabel!” Dipper replied. “If it’s something we know about Bill, the fake one will know it too! And we can’t ask them a question that we don’t have the answer for; we would have no way of knowing which one answered right…”

“Come on, Pine Tree!” the Bill on the left laughed. “Can’t you tell the difference between me and this fake?”

“You don’t get to call him that!” the Bill on the right nearly roared.

“I would tell them to shut up, but that might count as our one request,” Dipper mumbled.

“Oh!” Mabel pulled Dipper away and whispered to him; “What if we ask them to take off their pants?”

“What!?!” Dipper screeched, his face turning red.

“Don’t tell me you haven’t imagined what Bill junk looks likes,” Mabel laughed. “And you know whatever it looks like, probably won’t be anything like how you imagined so-“

“No, Mabel!” Dipper tried his best to keep his voice down. “I’m not gonna ask Bill to strip for me!”

“Alright,” Mabel shrugged. “But if you can’t think of something else, we might have to resort to that.”

Dipper turned back towards the two Bills; they were both looking at him intently. Dipper scanned over the left one, but couldn’t find anything that would indicate whether it was the real or fake Bill.

He started looking at the Bill on the right and caught that Bill’s gaze; the Bill on the right smiled and winked at him, or at least, Dipper thought he winked at him. It would be so much easier to tell if Dipper could see both of Bill’s eyes.

Then the realization hit Dipper; he had never seen Bill’s other eye! He had never even thought about what it might look like! There was no way the fake Bill to replicate or improvise something if Dipper didn’t know or had never imagined it to begin with!

“Okay, you two,” Dipper began. “Show me your covered eye.”

The one on the left immediately went to brush his hair aside, whereas the one on the right seemed to hesitate.

The Bill on the left uncovered his eye, except, there was nothing there; no indication there had ever been an eye at all, just blank, smooth skin where his eye should be.

The Bill on the right uncovered his eye, and Dipper knew the moment he saw it that, that had to be the real Bill; the sclera was completely black, the iris was a glowing blue similar to Bill’s fire, the pupil looked like that of a cat, and the eye didn’t seem to blink.

“That’s the real Bill,” Dipper said and pointed at the one on the right. The Bill on the left turned into dust like the previous fakes, and Bill ran over to the twins.

“Sorry, djinn,” Bill smirked at Fares who was standing there, looking dumbfounded. “But I’m taking these saplings home now.”

Bill grabbed Dipper and Mabel by the shoulder, and the trio transported out.

 

The first thing Bill did when they were back in the Mystery Shack was grabbing the lamp and summoning a blue, see-through orb around it.

“There,” Bill said. “Now he won’t be able to escape before I bury this thing in the forest…”

“Dipper, what are you wearing?” Mabel asked and Dipper realized, to his mortification, that the pillow he had used to cover himself had stayed in the lamp. “You look so cute!”

“… You should probably go up and change, Pine Tree,” Bill mumbled and averted his gaze from the human.

“Yeah,” Dipper agreed and went upstairs. He changed into his usual clothes and went back downstairs, hoping that Bill hadn’t left yet or that Bill had returned from burying the lamp. To his disappointment, he found only Mabel downstairs. “Where’s Bill? Still out burying the lamp?”

“No, he was done with that pretty quickly,” Mabel responded. “But he said something about it being he went home, that you might not want to see him today.”

“What? Why wouldn’t I want to see him?” Dipper asked confused.

“I dunno,” Mabel shrugged. “I’m a little mad at him though; I managed to take a diamond ring from one of the fake you’s that Fares made, and Bill took and didn’t give it back to me.”

“Huh… I wonder what Bill could need a ring for,” Dipper wondered out loud.

“Alright, listen, Dipper,” Mabel marched over to Dipper, her hands on her hips. “I can’t stand this anymore! Seeing you and Bill, waltzing around each other, is getting on my nerves! You’ve already admitted to me that you have feelings for him; you need to tell him!”

“Why?” Dipper crossed his arms defensively.

“Because your chance is running out! Bill told me that he can’t leave Gravity Falls…”

“Seriously?” Dipper’s eyes widened.

“Remember that thing you told me about? About how Gravity Falls is like a magic magnet or something? You told me you heard it from Twigs. And you also said, that some creatures can’t survive outsides these kinds of place; Bill is one of those types of creatures. Once summer is over, you might not get another chance to tell Bill how you really feel.”

“… You’re right, Mabel,” Dipper said quietly.

“Now, before you say anything, let me remind you- wait what?”

“You’re right,” Dipper looked at his sister. “I need to tell Bill, before it’s too late… even if he doesn’t love me, well, he cares about me, right?” Dipper gave his sister an unsure smile. “He’ll still be my friend, right?”

“Of course he will, Dipper,” Mabel assured him. “Who wouldn’t wanna be your friend? You know, aside from you being a complete nerd, but Bill doesn’t seem to mind that!” Mabel laughed and Dipper laughed along, albeit quieter and more insecurely.

“Alright,” Dipper took a deep breath. “I’ll tell him, first thing tomorrow. The moment I see him, I’ll walk right up to him… and I’ll tell him.”

 

Bill placed the ring beside the other items on his shelf; he was getting closer and closer, he only needed two ingredients more, but he was starting to have second thoughts about this. Today, Pine Tree had met a close relative to the demon family, someone who might as well be a demon, and that creature had kidnapped Pine Tree, possibly done horrible things to him…

It had taken Bill a long time to gain Pine Tree’s trust, and now that trust might have been shattered, now that Pine Tree had been reminded about demons really are. The djinn’s actions hadn’t been too far a cry away from some of things Bill had done when he first met the two saplings, even if Bill had, had a far better reason for his actions than merely wanting a pet.

Bill got a determined look in his eyes. He had spent too much time and effort into planning this, he couldn’t give up now. He would have to face Pine Tree tomorrow and hope the human still trusted him, that the human wouldn’t hold the djinn’s actions against Bill.

If Bill could preserve his current relationship with Pine Tree, all his plans might not be for naught.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you liked it:3 Next chapter will be The Love God! I hope to have it written soon, but there's still a lot going on in my personal life, so I can't be too sure how long it'll take me...
> 
> Please leave a comment if you want to! I love receiving comments!


	11. The Love God

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Dipper fails to confess his feelings for Bill, Mabel decides enough is enough and uses a love potion, stolen from the Love God, to take matters into her own hands.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter got done a lot sooner than I had expected. Probably because of all the nice and encouraging comments I've received:3 Thanks to everyone who send me some! I hope this chapter lives up to your hopes!

It was the day after the genie incident, and Dipper was a nervous wreck; he was pacing around the Gift Shop, nearly hyperventilating.

“Relax, dude, I’m sure it’ll be fine,” Wendy laughed from behind the cash register.

“Yeah,” Dipper took a deep breath. “I’ll just go out there, tell the demon from another dimension that I’m in love with him, he’ll laugh me off at best and eat my soul at worst-“

“Dipper!” Mabel scolded him. “You’re getting yourself worked up over nothing! In this kind of situation, it’s a good idea to think things through, realistically; what is the worst case scenario?”

“… That he eats my soul?” Dipper replied slowly.

“No, Dipper,” Mabel face palmed. “Worst case scenario, he’s not interested in you that way, and the two of you continue being friends, like you and Wendy!”

“Yeah, man,” Wendy agreed.

“And best case scenario,” Mabel continued, bouncing in place. “He’ll accept, declare his undying love for you, the two of you get married, I’ll be the bridesmaid and catch the bouquet, and you’ll live happily ever after with a bunch of half-demon children-“

“Okay, Mabel, I think you’re getting ahead of yourself,” Dipper interrupted. “Alright,” he took another deep breath, before pulling out a packet of breath mints, emptying all the mints into his hands.

“Dipper, no,” Mabel grabbed his arm gently to prevent the battalion of breath mints from going into her brother’s mouth. She plucked one out of his hand and placed it in his mouth. “There; your breath is minty fresh, you took another shower today and you even brushed your hair! If that’s not dedication, I don’t know what is.”

“I honestly don’t think any of that was necessary,” Wendy picked up a magazine on the counter. “I’ve seen the way Bill looks at you, dude; you could tell him to throw himself off a cliff, and he’d do it in a heartbeat.”

“Something tells me he would do it even if I didn’t ask him to do so,” Dipper mumbled.

“It’s the Woodstick Festival!” the group suddenly heard Stan yelling from outside the shack.

“The Wood-what?” Mabel tilted her head.

“Oh, right, you don’t know about that,” Wendy put down her magazine and fished her phone out of her pocket. “It's this annual outdoor concert featuring Oregon's up and coming indie bands,” she showed the twins several pictures on her phone; “They're all coming! Scarves Indoors, Wood Grain on Everything, the Love God! You've probably seen him in that viral video,” she showed them the video in question; it was an overweight, blond man with small wings on his back stumbling around on a scene.

“Wait!” Dipper exclaimed. “This is perfect! I can invite Bill to the concert! He’d probably love going to a music festival, for the chaotic atmosphere if nothing else! It’ll… it’ll be like a date!”

And with that Dipper hurried outside to the backyard, where Bill was waiting for him.

 

Dipper found Bill sitting outside by a picnic table, apparently playing with some cards.

“Hey, Bill,” Dipper greeted, trying his best to calm his nerves.

“Oh, hello, Pine Tree,” Bill smiled at him.

“So, w-what are you doing?” Dipper stuttered, leaning on the table.

“I’m glad you asked,” Bill replied excitedly. “Yesterday, I was looking for you to try out a new addition to my act, but you were… missing,” Bill’s face fell a little before he lit up again. “But maybe you can help me now?”

“Sure! I’d love to! Does it have anything to do with those cards?”

“Indeed it does!” Bill gathered the cards and started mixing them. “I got this idea to try out tarot readings; people pay me, and by extension your uncle, some money, and I’ll bullshit something based on the cards they draw!”

“But can’t you see into the future anyway? Why not just do that?”

“Because ordinary people aren’t worth my time,” Bill scoffed. “Besides, my ability to predict the future is more of an… educated guess; I can only predict things based on my own knowledge and experience,” Bill spread the cards out on the table. “But, in your case, I guess I’ll try to predict something at least semi-true. Now, pick three cards.”

Dipper picked three random cards; Bill pulled them out the deck and placed them in front of Dipper, before stacking the rest of the deck to the side. The demon then turned the first card, which was upside down, but Dipper was able to see the picture nonetheless; it depicted a man and woman, the woman holding a red apple between them, it was hard to tell whether the man and woman were looking at each other or the apple. Underneath the card, “The Lovers” was written.

“’The Lovers’?” Dipper echoed and tried to sound nonchalant. “So, what? Does this mean there’s love in my future?”

“Not necessarily,” Bill responded. “’The Lovers’ symbolizes a new relationship, meaningful yes, but it can mean anything from a lover, to a friend… But it’s in reverse position…”

“What does that mean?”

“Ordinarily, the card means two people, brought together by fate, but in reverse, it means two people forced together… Oh, well, it probably means nothing, right?”

“Right,” Dipper laughed awkwardly as Bill flipped the next card; this card depicting a crumbling tower, lightning striking it, sending boulders and rocks, as well as a person, falling to the ground. Underneath it, “The Tower” was written.

“Now, ‘The Tower’ symbolizes a new truth or a shocking discovery,” Bill explained. “Something that completely destroys how you perceive something or someone,” Bill turned the last card; this card depicted a man, holding two rods, looking at one of them, and about to throw the other aside, with “Two of Wands” written underneath it. “’The Two of Wands’… This card stands for… making a decision, a choice that has to be made, no middle ground and no compromise. Putting it all together, Pine Tree, in your nearest future, you’ll be forced into a new relationship, later you’ll learn something that’ll completely destroy your faith in someone, and it’ll all end with an important decision that you have to make!”

“That… that’s a lot to take in,” Dipper remarked.

“Don’t worry about it, Pine Tree,” Bill laughed. “So, was there a specific reason you sought me out?”

“Huh? Oh! Yeah! Wendy told me about this Woodstick Festival, and I thought… maybe you wanted to go? With me?”

“Sure!” Bill smiled.

“Really?” Dipper’s eyes lit up.

“Of course! Who else is going?”

“… What?”

“Well, I assume Shooting Star is going, but I thought maybe you wanted to invite some more friends along?”

“Oh… yeah…” Dipper tried to keep a smile on his face, but inside he felt like he was falling apart. “Yeah, Mabel’s coming too… I need to go back into the Gift Shop!” Dipper got up from the table and ran back towards the shack.

“Pine Tree?” Bill called after him, but Dipper ignored it.

 

“So? So?” Mabel asked excitedly when Dipper returned to the Gift Shop. “How did it go?”

“It didn’t,” Dipper simply said and walked past her.

“What do you mean? Didn’t you confess?”

“I invited him to the festival, and he thought it was group trip.”

“Why didn’t you tell him it was a date?” Mabel screeched, about to pull her hair out.

“Because it was pretty obvious that I was asking him out!” Dipper threw his hands in the air. “Bill picked up on my intent, he chose to reject me by giving me out so I wouldn’t embarrass myself.”

“Are you sure that’s what happened?” Mabel glared at her brother. “Bill isn’t exactly the best at human subtleties.”

“Even if it wasn’t, I don’t care!” Dipper flopped down on a chair by the counter and laid his head on the desk. “I give up…”

“Give up!?!” Mabel yelled. “You haven’t even tried yet!” and with that, Mabel marched up to the twins’ room.

 

Mabel was lying on her bed, Waddles resting on her belly.

“This is terrible, Waddles,” Mabel moaned to her pig. “Dipper wants to tell Bill, I know he does! But he’s too scared of being rejected… Bill wouldn’t reject him, would he?”

Waddles gave a small oink in response.

“Exactly!” Mabel nodded. “Bill cares about Dipper too much to hurt him! Bill might even love Dipper too! But how are we gonna make any of them confess?”

Waddles made a small grunting sound that caused Mabel to perk up.

“’Fake date’? Did you say ‘fake date’ or ‘playmate’?”

Waddles made the same grunting sound as before and Mabel jumped up from her bed, swinging Waddles around in joy.

“Waddles! You’re a genius!” Mabel cheered happily. She placed her pig down on the floor and grabbed her laptop, sat back down on her bed, laptop placed on her lap. “All we need to do is write fake love letters for Dipper and Bill to get them to go on a date! Then one of them is bound to confess and this whole mess will be over and done with. Now, how should I write the letter to Dipper?” Mabel pondered. “Well, Bill would most likely write something about wanting to ‘dip his dorito’, but that’s really not gonna cut it…”

Mabel began writing on her laptop, trying to get the fake love letter right.

“Alright, Waddles, how about this?” Mabel began reading aloud: “’Dear Dipper’… That’s all I’ve gotten so far… Urgh! I don’t know what a demon in love would sound like! What am I supposed to do, Waddles?”

Waddles gave a small oink in response.

“Yes! Of course!” Mabel ran out the door.

 

So far, Bill’s day had been rather odd, more so than what was usual for being a demon living in Gravity Falls; it had all started with Pine Tree acting so strange. At first, Bill had been happy to see that the encounter with the djinn hadn’t had any adverse effects to his and Pine Tree’s relationship, but then the human had abruptly stormed off. And only about half an hour later, Shooting Star had sought him out, asking him how he would confess his love to someone, which was odd for Shooting Star, considering she seemed to have everything love and emotion related down par. In fact, there had been times where Bill had been tempted to ask for Shooting Star’s assistance in his attempt to woo Pine Tree, but had decided against, not because he thought it wouldn’t work, but because Bill wanted no one to know of his intent towards Pine Tree, before he told Pine Tree himself.

Now, he was standing in the Gift Shop, and found a letter addressed to him; the writer of the letter had used newspaper clippings on the outside of the envelope to write: “For Bill” and the letter itself had been written on a computer. Bill assumed both had been done in order to prevent him from recognizing any handwriting.

The letter said: “Dear Bill, I have had feelings for you for a long time now, and I don’t think I can hold back any longer. I want to tell you everything. Please meet me for lunch, at one p.m., in Greasy’s Diner in the booth furthest back. Love, your secret admirer”.

Bill chuckled a little; it was most likely written by one of the preteen or teen girls who came to the Shack to watch him perform. A surprising number of them had crushes on Bill and there had been multiple times where one had confessed some “eternal devotion” or “undying love” to him. Despite Bill’s first reaction being to laugh at the ridiculousness of it all, he managed to refrain from laughing, and let the girls down easy, or well, as easy as he could.

Bill looked at the clock; it was ten minutes to one, so he had plenty of time to meet with his mysterious admirer. If nothing, he might be able to score a free lunch out of whoever wrote him the letter.

Seeing no one around, Bill teleported to a part of the forest close to Greasy’s Diner and walked the rest of the way. When he arrived inside the diner, no one was sitting in the booth furthest back, meaning Bill had arrived before his admirer. The demon sat down in the booth and picked up a menu to figure out what he wanted to order, looking up every time he heard the bell on the door ring.

After the first five customers, none of whom walked even close to the back booth, someone Bill did recognize stepped through the door; it was Shooting Star. That was quite possibly the worst development that could have happened; if Shooting Star was his admirer, Bill couldn’t simply reject her. If he did, Pine Tree would be furious with him for breaking her heart, but Bill couldn’t date her! He was trying to woo Pine Tree!

His gaze met Shooting Star’s and she smiled at waved to him. Bill waved back with a somewhat awkward smile, however, Shooting Star sat down a couple booths away from Bill, meaning that she wasn’t his admirer, filling Bill with relief.

Shortly after Shooting Star’s entrance, Pine Tree walked through the door, carrying a note, and walking directly towards Bill.

“Pine Tree!” Bill grinned. “What a pleasure to see you!”

“Bill?” Pine Tree sounded surprised.

“What? Didn’t expect I would show?” Bill smirked; so Pine Tree had been the one who had sent the note? Could it really be that the human had a crush on him?

“You… Huh?” Pine Tree looked confused and looked at the note in his hand again. Maybe he was surprised Bill had shown up?

“Have a seat, Pine Tree, we have a lot to talk about,” Bill gestured to the seat across him.

“Bill! What is all this about?” Pine Tree demanded.

“What are you talking about, Pine Tree?” Bill tilted his head in confusion.

“Why did you…?” suddenly, Pine Tree looked furious with an underlying anguish in his eyes. “I knew you knew!”

“Knew what?” Bill was beginning to think that Pine Tree hadn’t written the letter; the human certainly didn’t sound like someone about to confess their love.

“Did you do all this just to make fun of me!?!” Pine Tree shouted. “Or because you feel sorry for me?! I don’t need your cruelty or pity!” Bill didn’t get a chance to answer before Pine Tree stormed out of the diner, although he tried to follow.

“Pine Tree!” he called after the human as he tried to catch up to him. “At least tell me what I did wrong so I can apologize for it!”

 

Mabel was left at the diner, having witnessed her complete failure.

“I didn’t think Dipper would have overreacted that much…” Mabel mumbled to herself. “He must be really convinced that Bill has no interest in him…”

The door to the diner was slammed open and in stepped the guy from the video that Wendy had shown Mabel and Dipper.

“Woo-hoo! Who's ready to fall in love tonight?” he shouted.

“Love God!” all the patrons at the diner cheered.

“That’s what they call me,” the Love God said as he started up the old jukebox. “We're rewriting history tonight, and it starts with you and you,” he pointed at a male and female patron who immediately ran over to each other and started kissing. “Love is real and it's in your face!” he turned towards an elderly woman. “What’s your name, you little angel?”

“Meredith,” the old woman giggled.

“Meredith, Meredith,” the Love God whispered in a serious tone. “We got a problem,” he pointed to another old woman sitting by the counter. “That cutie there is your soul mate and you’re living without her.”

“Oh, no,” Meredith exclaimed. “What do I do?”

“Get it, girl; you know what you love,” the Love God pointed at the old woman as Meredith ran off, picked the woman up, and carried her out of the diner. “Pow! Match made!”

“I must know how this works,” Mabel exclaimed in awe. She got up from her seat and walked over to the Love God who was busy stuffing his face with a large sandwich. “Hi. Love God? Mabel here. Big fan. Can I just say, that was some of the finest matchmaking I've ever seen? Can you please, please tell me your secret?”

“Well, between you and me,” the Love God said, licking his fingers. “Let's just say my name's not exactly a coincidence.” He pointed at his small wings as they, discretely started to flutter.

“Oh. My. Love God,” Mabel whispered. “Are you an actual love god?”

“Call me a cherub. The internet pretty much does my job for me nowadays so I'm taking time to focus on my rock career,” he handed her a cassette tape. “Boom. Cassette. Boom. For you.”

“Oh, that’s… great,” Mabel remarked awkwardly, subtlety dropping the tape. “So, anyway, can you make anything fall in love? Like that snake and that badger?” she pointed at a snake and badger that was fighting outside.

“Hmm, ah gee, I dunno. That might be kinda hard to- Kaboom!” the Love God pointed at the two animals, who then smiled at each other. The snake wrapped itself around the badger, which then walked the two of them into the forest. “Match made!”

“They're gonna make a snadger!” Mabel smiled happily. “How are you doing that?”

“Love potion, yo,” the Love God showed off bottles, filled with glittery content of various colors, hanging from his belt. “I got it all; summer love, young love, anti-love. You just gotta put a little on your fingers and pow!”

At that point, Mabel was struck by an idea. “Do you have interspecies-love? Was that the one you used on the snake and the badger?”

“Sure, that would be this one,” the Love God showed Mabel a bottle filled with a dark red powder.

“I need that potion. How much would it cost?” Mabel saw a squirrel running by and picked it up, showing it to the Love God. “And will you accept squirrels as payment?”

“Whoa, no way; you might think you know what's best for people but this stuff can have major social consequences. That's why it can only be used by a serious expert.”

“Love God! Sign my face!” a young woman shrieked at the cherub.

“Only if you sign mine, baby. Let's get weird!” the Love God responded and started making out with the woman. Mabel saw the potion dangling from cherub’s belt; she snatched it and replaced it with the squirrel.

 

Mabel hid the potion behind her back as she walked into the living room, finding her brother lying on the couch, looking absolutely miserable.

“So, what’s bothering you?” she asked, trying to sound nonchalant.

“I’ve ruined everything!” Dipper groaned.

“Come on! I’m sure you’re overreacting!” Mabel assured him.

“I overreacted before,” Dipper insisted. “This is the perfect level of reaction… Someone pulled a stupid prank on me and Bill, and I immediately accused Bill of doing it and stormed away!”

“What exactly did you accuse Bill of?”

“That he was either pulling some mean-spirited joke, or that he wanted to go out with me out of pity; and why wouldn’t he? Look at me, Mabel! The only time I successfully confessed my feelings to someone was when I thought they were dead!”

“Dipper, you gotta get past this!”

“I’m scared, Mabel…”

“Scared of Bill?” Mabel kneeled down in front of her brother.

“I’m scared of how Bill will react; I can’t do it, Mabel, I can’t…”

“Well, have you spoken to Bill about it?”

“I’m never speaking to Bill again! He probably hates me now!”

“Urgh! Dipper!” Mabel, while still keeping one hand on the potion, pulled Dipper up from the couch and dragged him to the backyard.

From where the twins were standing, they could see Bill, talking to two teenage girls and apparently showing them a card trick.

“This is for the best, Mabel,” Dipper sighed. “Bill can be with some pretty human or demon, and I can just continue being alone…”

“Dipper, stop it!” Mabel shouted at him angrily. “Now, you’re going over to Bill and talk things through!”

“Mabel, no! I’m not-“ Mabel interrupted him by pushing him towards Bill, discretely flicking a bit of the love potion around his head. Dipper suddenly stopped up, looked at Bill with big eyes, and started walking towards him.

 

Bill had been trying to find Pine Tree for the last fifteen minutes, but had been interrupted in his search by two teenage girls. The girls were obviously flirting with him, and Bill laughed internally at their failed attempts, but he was at least trying to be polite.

The girls said that they had wanted to see some of his magic tricks, an obvious lie, but Bill indulged them, mostly because he loved hearing humans gasp and awe at the simplest tricks.

Bill was distracted from his current trick, however, when he saw Pine Tree approach him, looking rather happy.

“Alright, girls, show’s over,” Bill told the two girls.

“Aw, but we wanna see more,” one of the girls whined.

“Sorry, but you’re more than welcome to come back another time,” Bill promised, giving them a small bow. The girls giggled and walked away as Bill turned to greet Pine Tree. “There you are! I’ve been looking for you.”

“Hi, Bill,” Pine Tree smiled brightly at him.

“You seem to be in a better mood now, Pine Tree,” Bill remarked. “You gonna tell me what I did wrong, or…?”

“Oh, nothing you need to worry about,” Pine Tree said dismissively. “I wanted to apologize for how I reacted…”

“There, there, Pine Tree, no harm done,” Bill gave him a small pat on the head; usually, Pine Tree would get mad or annoyed when he did that, but this time Pine Tree… giggled.

“I feel awful about it, though,” Pine Tree grabbed Bill’s hand and held it close to his chest. “I want to make it up to you; how about we get some ice cream? My treat?”

“Oh, Pine Tree, you don’t need an excuse to make me go out with you~” Bill teased with a smirk.

“Well, that’s a relief,” Pine Tree laughed, throwing Bill off; something was definitely wrong with his Pine Tree.

 

Pine Tree had brought Bill to the ice cream shop in the mall.

“So what do you want, Bill?” Pine Tree asked, fishing some money out of his pocket.

“Don’t worry, Pine Tree, I’ll pay for myself,” Bill assured him, discretely summoning a small piece of gold. “Should be enough here for both of us.”

“Bill, how am I supposed to make this up to you, if you’re the one paying?”

“Obviously your company is payment enough, Pine Tree~” Bill teased. He had expected the blush that appeared on Pine Tree’s face, but not the blissful smile on the boy’s lips.

“Alright then,” Pine Tree shrugged, a big grin still on his face. He looked over the ice cream options. “I’ll have vanilla and lemon sorbet in a cup.”

“Sounds good,” Bill walked up to the cash register. “Hey! He’ll have a cup of vanilla ice cream and lemon sorbet.”

“Do you want any sprinkles or sauce?” the cashier asked in a rather bored tone.

“No, thanks,” Dipper told the cashier, standing beside Bill.

“I’ll take a cone with coffee and... oh! Lavender-honey!” Bill ordered. “And put some strawberry jam on it too!”

After getting their respective ice cream, Bill handed the small gold nugget to the cashier, who accepted it with no complaint. Not too odd since they were in Gravity Falls; the cashier was probably used to receiving payment a lot stranger than gold.

Bill and Pine Tree sat down by a small table in the back of the shop and started eating. Or, well, Bill tried to, but the way Pine Tree was eating his ice cream was much too distracting; he was moaning and generally making the most obscene sounds, alternating between sucking the ice cream of the spoon and licking the spoon clean. Bill could feel his control breaking a small amount with each noise coming out of Pine Tree’s mouth. Was this some sort of punishment? Bill still had no idea what he had done wrong; what could he have possibly done to warrant this torment?

Suddenly, Bill heard a crunching sound and felt a cold liquid sliding down his hand, and Pine Tree was staring at him. Bill looked down and saw that he had crushed his cone and that the ice cream was dripping down his hand. He ate the entire thing in three big bites so he didn’t have to worry about getting stains on his clothes.

 

After Pine Tree had finished his ice cream, a process which had somehow taken much longer than necessary and yet had been over all too quickly, and had left Bill’s pants feeling a lot tighter than normal, the two of them exited the shop together, Pine Tree leading the way out of the mall.

The avergae human wouldn’t have noticed, but Pine Tree was swinging his hips just the tiniest bit more than usual. Not that Bill was watching of course! No, he just happened to pay attention to Pine Tree’s… assets at that moment.

“Alright,” Bill grabbed Pine Tree by the shoulders after they exited the mall and turned the human to look at him. “I don’t know what I did wrong, Pine Tree, but I am so sorry, and I promise never to do it again!”

“Bill, what are you talking about?” Pine Tree asked, looking utterly confused.

“Don’t think I haven’t been paying attention to your cruel and unusual punishment,” Bill growled.

“I haven’t been trying to punish you,” Pine Tree insisted.

“Pine Tree…” Bill took a deep breath before continuing. “Demons aren’t meant to resist temptation, and you, doing the things you’ve been doing today, has been downright torture to me.”

“Oh, Bill,” Pine Tree leaned close to Bill and whispered in his ear: “Maybe I want you to show me just how much of demon you are~” Before Bill had a chance to reply, Pine Tree grabbed the demon by the head and mashed their lips together. Bill was too stunned to react to the kiss. He did notice, however, that Pine Tree’s lips were very soft and tasted so very sweet, as well as Pine Tree’s scent, smelling like nature with a hint of cinnamon, invading his space.

Pine Tree ended the kiss, smiling happily at Bill, his eyes filled with joy and bliss.

“I need to go home now,” Bill said and started moving towards an alley where he could teleport back home.

“Can I come along?” Pine Tree questioned as he followed the demon.

“No, Pine Tree,” Bill answered carefully. “I have some… things that I need to get in order…”

“Okay, then,” Pine Tree shrugged and gave Bill a small peck on the cheek. “See you tomorrow, Bill!”

Bill waved at the human as he left before returning to the task at hand.

 

Mabel was in a good mood, and why shouldn’t she be? Yesterday when Dipper came back from his talk with Bill, he had been ecstatic; apparently Dipper not only managed to invite Bill out for ice cream, and everything had gone really well, Dipper said he had even kissed Bill twice, one of them on the lips, and Bill hadn’t pushed him away. When Mabel asked Dipper if he was still scared, her brother responded that he didn’t even remember what he was so afraid of!

All in all, Mabel thought as she was looking at the love potion resting in her hands, stealing that potion might have been her best idea yet.

However, Mabel was interrupted from her train of thoughts, when suddenly, Bill teleported into the gift shop; since the Mystery Shack was closed, because Grunkle Stan was planning some big event for the Woodstick Festival that day, no one apart from Mabel was there.

Bill looked around, looking rather frazzled, before he spotted Mabel, who had been quick to hide the potion behind her back.

“Where is Pine Tree?” he asked her.

“Dipper?” Mabel cocked her head to the side. “He’s out looking for you, I think.”

“Hopefully, that gives me enough time to prepare,” Bill sighed and used his powers to transport a basket filled weird looking herbs, flowers and a couple of crystals.

“Bill, what’s all this for?” Mabel questioned the demon.

“Shooting Star, I’m going to ask you something now, and it’s important that you answer me honestly,” Bill told her, sounding very serious. Mabel felt a surge of panic, afraid that Bill might have caught on. “Did Pine Tree act… different around you yesterday?”

“I… wouldn’t say so,” Mabel answered carefully. “He just seemed a little… happier than usual…”

“That confirms my suspicion…” Bill mumbled and started looking through the basket.

“Bill, you still haven’t answered my question,” Mabel protested.

“Shooting Star…” Bill took a deep breath. “I’m afraid your brother is being controlled by something or someone… and that whoever is behind it, is using him to get to me.”

“What!” Mabel laughed nervously. “What gave you that idea?”

“Pine Tree behaved very abnormally yesterday,” Bill explained. “I think whatever’s controlling him might be trying to get me crack; at this point, my self control is lower than it has ever been before, and if I keep close to Pine Tree, I’m afraid my last shred of restraint will snap, and I’ll take advantage of Pine Tree in his controlled state.”

“Look, Bill, maybe you’re blowing all this out of proportion? Maybe Dipper is just in love with you?”

A big, humorous laughter emitted from Bill. “Come on, Shooting Star! I’m a demon! Do you honestly think your brother would fall in love with a demon? No, as much as I’ve hoped, I can’t seem to be able to win Pine Tree’s heart, and it seems to be because of my demonic nature.”

“Wait, you’ve been trying to get with Dipper? That’s perfect!”

“No, it’s not, Shooting Star!” Bill snarled, now angry. “Whatever’s controlling Pine Tree keeps pushing my limits! Regardless of your brother’s feelings towards me, how do you think he would react if I raped him, simply because I couldn’t hold myself back any longer?”

“But how do you know it’s mind control? Why can’t it just be because Dipper loves you?”

“Like I said, he hasn’t responded favorably to any of my attempts at wooing him. Besides, the way he’s acting… Pine Tree would never act like that; he’s too shy and awkward to do half these things! In order to protect Pine Tree, and figure out what’s behind this, we can’t let it know we’re on the track. So I will have to ‘break Pine Tree’s heart’, and then use these items to make a spell that can track the perpetrator down.”

“But if Dipper is in love with you, you can’t break his heart!” Mabel was starting to panic again; was it possible that the love potions were mind control? And now, because of her, Dipper’s initial fear was about to become reality!

“Of course whatever’s controlling him will act like it’s heartbroken, most likely to get my sympathy and make me take back whatever I said, but I have to do it, for Pine Tree’s sake!”

The two were interrupted by the bell on the gift shop’s door, ringing, as Dipper stepped inside.

“Bill,” Dipper smiled somewhat awkwardly. “I’ve been looking for you…”

“Right, Pine Tree,” Bill took another deep breath. “I have to tell you something…”

Mabel didn’t know why she did it; all she knew was that she had to buy some more time! So she took out some of the love potion and sent it towards Bill.

“There’s something I wanted to tell you t-“ Dipper was interrupted by Bill, slamming him into the nearest wall and starting to make out with the human. It went on for quite a while, until Bill apparently remembered that humans needed to breathe, then proceeding to kiss Dipper’s neck. “W-where’s all this coming from?” Dipper gasped.

“Don’t you like it, Pine Tree?” Bill smirked and took a big sniff from Dipper’s neck.

“No, no, I like it fine, it’s just… Eeeh!” Dipper shrieked when Bill shoved his hand under Dipper’s shirt, starting to rub his stomach. “Not here!”

“Alright,” Bill smiled, pulling his hand back out. “Then, how about we go back to my place and…” Bill trailed off suggestively.

“Actually, Bill, I wanted to talk to you about that festival we were supposed to go today?” Dipper swallowed audibly. “When I asked you, originally, I was trying to ask you out on a date, so, would you mind if it was just the two of us, going together?”

“I wouldn’t mind at all, Pine Tree,” Bill leaned closer to the human. “In fact, I think that sounds like a great idea… and then, after the concert, you and I can go back to my place and then we can just… figure out what we feel like doing…” the two boys started making out again, and Mabel took that as her hint to leave.

Okay, so she had given her brother a mind drug, and now she had given one of her friends the same mind drug. Obviously, she needed to get her hands on the antidote, the anti-love potion, which meant she had to find the Love God.

 

Mabel took the golf cart and drove it to the festival, hoping to find the Love God. Unfortunately, because of the sheer size of the place, it took her longer than expected, and it was dark by the time she found the Love God’s van. She managed to get a hold of the anti-love potion, but the Love God caught her, and after a long chase, tricked her by using “Visions of Heartbreak Past” into giving it back to him. All hope seemed lost, until a giant, burning air-balloon, shaped like Stan’s head, fell down on him.

“Love God! Are you okay?” Mabel ran over to the cherub. “Please be immortal. Please be immortal.”

“Dude, I am so over this,” the Love God groaned as he crawled out from under the balloon.

“Love God to the stage! Love God to the stage!” An announcer called.

“Agh, look kid. Take it, okay. Spray everyone for all I care. You wanna mess with peoples' lives? You wanna play God? Do it. 'Cus I'm sick of it,” and with that, the Love God gave Mabel his belt of potions and walked away.

Mabel tried to secure the belt around her waist, but couldn’t because of her much slimmer figure, and settled with carrying the belt around her shoulder. She then proceeded to start looking for Bill and Dipper, but she couldn’t find them and no one seemed to have seen them. After a while, she found a small hill area further away from the stage, where a lot of couples were.

“Excuse me,” Mabel addressed the couple closest to her. “Have you seen a pale, brown-haired teen and a tall, tan guy with yellow hair?”

“Oh, those guys,” the boy she was talking to said. “Yeah, they were here a short while ago… They were making out a lot, like a LOT. So much that it was annoying everyone else, so we told them to get a room and they left.”

“Thank you so much!” Mabel yelled before running back to the parking lot with all her might. Afterwards, she took the golf cart and drove it to the motel Bill had told her he lived at.

 

It took Mabel longer than she had wanted to, to get to the motel, but then again, any time, apart from instantly, was too long. She ran up to the front desk clerk, a teen boy who seemed like he was about to fall asleep any second.

“Excuse me,” Mabel addressed the clerk, trying to sound as polite and pleasant as possible, despite how out of breath she was. “Could you give me the keys to the room of a Mr. Bill Cipher? I promise I’m not a burglar or a mass murderer.”

The clerk didn’t reply, seemingly too tired to question Mabel, and handed her the key.

“Thank you so much,” Mabel smiled at the clerk, before running to the room showed on the key. As expected, the door to Bill’s room was locked, so Mabel used to key, and found her brother, once again against the wall, making out with Bill. “Guys stop!”

“Mabel?” Dipper gasped, breaking away from the kiss.

“Shooting Star, what are you doing here?” Bill asked, gently letting Dipper down from the wall, but kept his arms wrapped around the human.

“It’s alright guys,” Mabel assured them. “I just need to sprinkle this stuff on you,” she explained as she pulled out the anti-love potion.

“That… that’s an anti-love potion,” Bill remarked. “Shooting Star, why are you doing this? Are you trying to break us up?”

“Mabel,” Dipper’s voice was filled with betrayal. “I thought you wanted me and Bill to be together.”

“I do!” Mabel insisted. “But I… I screwed up, okay? You wouldn’t confess to Bill, so I tried to set you up on a date, but that failed miserably, but then I met the Love God, and I stole one of his love potions and used it on you, Dipper, but then Bill told me you were being mind controlled or something and that he needed to break your heart in order to figure out who was behind it, so I panicked and used the love potion on him to buy me more time! Now, I just need to use the anti-love potion on you guys, and everything will be back to normal!” Mabel began gasping for air, having not taken a break during her explanation to take a breath.

“Whoa, don’t forget to breathe Mabel,” Dipper remarked.

“A love potion…” Bill mumbled to himself before face palming. “Of course! How did I not see that? Shooting Star, a cherub’s love potion isn’t mind control; it doesn’t create feelings, it just temporarily pushes those feelings to the forefront. The effect usually wears off by itself after twenty-four hours.”

“And if I had used the anti-love potion?” Mabel asked carefully.

“Then everything me and Pine Tree hate and dislike about each other would be pushed to the forefront, most likely resulting in a very big fight.”

“Well, now I’m not gonna use it,” Mabel shrugged and put the anti-love potion back on the belt.

“Mabel, why did you do it?” Dipper inquired his sister.

“Dipper…” Mabel sighed and shook her head. “I hoped it would give you the push you needed to confess to Bill… I know it was wrong, but you’ve gotta believe me, I had your best interest at heart!”

“I’m not mad at you,” Dipper clarified. “In a way, you did end up helping me,” Dipper blushed and leaned into Bill. “And, if the potions only work twenty-four hours, that means that it was all me who invited Bill to the festival today.”

“Yes, but while we’re on the subject,” Bill began. “Someone here is still under the influence of the potion, and is doing his best not to spoil this conversation.”

“Right,” Mabel nodded. “So, are you staying here, Dipper, or do you need a ride home?”

Dipper’s blush intensified as he replied: “I think I’ll stay here.”

“Alright, then,” Mabel threw a last look at Bill and told him: “Break my brother’s heart, and I’ll hunt you down with a bottle of holy water,” before leaving.

“These last days have been exhausting,” Dipper remarked while Bill began to kiss his neck. “Aren’t you forgetting something, Bill?”

“Oh, right,” Bill let go of Dipper, to quickly re-lock the door, before returning to the human and pushing him into bed. “Now, where were we?”

“Bill,” Dipper gasped. “Before we go any further, I need to tell you something…”

“You can tell me anything, Pine Tree,” Bill promised as he lied on top of Dipper.

“I… I have never had sex before,” Dipper confessed. “And I don’t think I’m ready for… actual sex.”

“That’s alright, Pine Tree,” Bill responded, moving away from Dipper. “We can just talk and-“

“No!” Dipper exclaimed. “I meant, I’m not ready for sex-sex… but I might okay with… other types of sex…”

“Oh, you are too adorable, Pine Tree,” Bill smiled and kissed Dipper on the nose.

“I’m not adorable,” Dipper grumbled, despite the blush forming on his cheeks.

“Let’s get rid of all this clothing, and just do whatever feels good~” Bill smirked as he began to undress. Dipper followed suit, albeit slower and more embarrassed.

Dipper kept throwing looks at Bill, as each part of the demon’s godlike body was uncovered, but he nearly had a heart attack when Bill removed his underwear.

“Why is your dick so big!?!” Dipper shrieked.

“It’s not,” Bill frowned. “It’s only nine inches, isn’t that the average size?”

“Bill,” Dipper closed his eyes, trying to remain calm. “Where did you learn about penis sizes?”

“When I wanted to create my body, I had to look up a lot of references,” Bill explained. “The only references for human junk were porn.”

“Well, that explains it,” Dipper sighed in frustration.

“If nine inches isn’t the average size,” Bill started. “What is the average size?”

“I think it’s like… six inches? I don’t know!” Dipper shrieked when Bill began removing the human’s pants, which were still on. “What are you doing!?!”

“I wanna see your dick, Pine Tree,” Bill smiled.

“I’ll remove my own clothes!” And with that, Dipper began taking off his pants. “Don’t be disappointed that it’s not like… the kinds you see in porn,” Dipper mumbled, throwing his pants away and starting to remove his underpants. “It’s bound to be a lot smaller, for one…”

“I bet you have the prettiest penis out of them all!” Bill simply said.

“Well, here it is,” Dipper threw away his underwear, revealing a slim, five and a half inch dick.

“Yeah, I was right,” Bill declared and pushed Dipper back down into the bed. “Best penis of them all.”

“Stop talking about my dick like that!” Dipper shouted despite being filled with relief that Bill wasn’t disappointed.

“I know exactly what I wanna do with this one,” Bill smirked. “Hey, Pine Tree, mind if I try something?”

“No, I don’t mind,” Dipper replied carefully, curious as to what Bill would do.

With permission granted, Bill moved his head down to Dipper’s dick and sucked it into his mouth.

Dipper felt like he had forgotten how to breathe as Bill started sucking him, the demon licking his cock like a popsicle before deepthroating the poor human. Dipper couldn’t hope to last, not with the way Bill was playing around with his junk, like the demon had done it many times before, and Dipper came with a great, big moan.

“Sorry,” Dipper gasped, while Bill busy swallowing his load. “Sorry I couldn’t last longer…”

“No problem, Pine Tree,” Bill licked his lips. “We’ll have plenty of time to train your endurance~”

Dipper blushed again, possibly because his blood now had no other head to run to, and noticed Bill’s erection.

“You haven’t…” Dipper trailed off, but Bill caught his drift.

“That’s not important, Pine Tree,” Bill insisted. “You don’t have to-“

“I want to,” Dipper interrupted. “Um, lay down and I’ll try.”

Bill smiled and lied down on his back, while Dipper moved to the demon’s crotch. The size of Bill’s member was still a little intimidating to Dipper; it was almost twice as big as his own! Dipper just praised himself lucky that Bill had settled for what he thought was an average sized dick, and not gotten himself an eleven inch monster down there. The human started by giving the cock a couple small licks, before putting just the tip inside his mouth, trying to get used to the feeling.

It was odd having the organ inside his mouth, throbbing and warm. Dipper tried his best to suck the tip and slowly taking in more and more of the demon’s dick. Bill was beginning to moan, praises and gasps spilling from his mouth as he encouraged Dipper every step of the way.

Dipper remembered that Bill had done something called “deepthroating” and Dipper decided to try it out as well, wanting to pleasure the demon. He attempted to take in all of Bill’s length, but found that his gag reflex got in the way, and started coughing violently, spitting Bill’s cock out.

“Are you alright, Pine Tree?” Bill asked, sounding slightly out of breath.

“I’m fine,” Dipper coughed.

“Maybe you should train a bit more before you try deepthroating?” Bill suggested, petting Dipper’s hair. “You’re doing really well, Pine Tree~”

“Thanks,” Dipper swallowed audibly. “Can I… can I continue?”

“Of course you can,” Bill lied back down again, leaving Dipper to his work.

This time Dipper avoided deepthroating, focusing more licking the length and sucking the tip, things he was sure he could handle. It took Bill longer, but eventually the demon got close to the edge.

“Pine Tree!” Bill gasped. “I’m- I’m about to cum!”

Dipper nodded, the demon’s dick still in his mouth; he wanted to try and swallow Bill’s load too and started sucking harder, waiting for the substance to fill his mouth.

What came out of Bill’s penis was not what Dipper had expected; the substance was smooth, much closer to a thick liquid than cum and warmer than he had expected. Dipper opened his mouth and found black goop dripping from his mouth.

“Oh, sorry, I forgot about that,” Bill apologized and got a tissue from the bedside table, placing it in front of Dipper’s mouth. “Here, you can spit it out.”

Dipper did so, and as he did, got a small taste of the substance; the taste reminded him a bit of licorice, but much sweeter and without the strong bitterness most black licorice had.

“What was that?” Dipper questioned the demon after the black goo was wiped away.

“Well, take a wild guess, Pine Tree,” Bill replied, throwing the tissue out in a wastebasket.

“Why is your… why is it so different from humans’?” Dipper asked.

“When I made my body, I got a couple of things wrong,” Bill explained. “Mainly my one eye, as you saw a couple days ago; it’s a demon eye. Some of my other features, mostly my internal organs, blood and the like are more demonic than human, including my sperm. But I promise you, there’s nothing dangerous about it; it is, despite its appearance, no different from human sperm.”

“Alright, I didn’t expect I would have this conversation with you,” Dipper lied down beside the demon on the bed. “Your bed isn’t very big…”

“That just means we’ll have to sleep closer together to make room,” Bill smirked, throwing the blanket over them and holding Dipper’s body close to his.

“You’re so warm,” Dipper remarked, cuddling closer to Bill. “So… does this mean we’re dating now?”

“We… we don’t have to be,” Bill mumbled.

“No! No, I want us to! It’s just,” Dipper sighed. “You’re a demon.”

“I get it, Pine Tree; most humans wouldn’t want a demon for a boyfriend.”

“No, I meant, do demons even date?”

“Ehhh... we don’t call it ‘dating’, and our version involves a little more terrorization of small civilizations and corrupting the hearts of mortals than yours, but going purely by concept, yes, demons do date…”

“I don’t have much interest in either of those things,” Dipper chuckled. Bill looked at Dipper and reached his hand towards the human’s hair. “What are doing?” Dipper asked, stopping the hand with his own.

“I wanted to see your birthmark,” Bill explained.

“Why do you wanna see that?” Dipper questioned.

“Come on, Pine Tree, please?” Bill begged like a small child. “What do I have to do in return?”

“Hmm…” Dipper pondered a bit before answering. “I wanna see your demon eye.”

“What? Why?” Bill asked flabbergasted.

“Well?” Dipper tilted his head.

“Alright, fine,” Bill relented, and the two of them each brushed the other’s hair aside, revealing the hidden features. Dipper was fascinated by the demon’s eye, which was now staring at him intently.

“I love your eye,” Dipper smiled at Bill.

Bill leaned over and kissed Dipper on his birthmark, before proceeding to give the human many small kisses on the forehead, cheeks and neck.

“Stop, stop it, Bill!” Dipper giggled.

“Oh, so you’re ticklish, Pine Tree~” Bill smirked and started tickling his little human.

“Stop! Please!” Dipper gasped for air. “I’ll do anything!”

“Anything?” Bill stopped.

“Okay, what do you want?”

Bill responded by pointing at his mouth. Dipper laughed and gave the demon and small peck on his lips.

The two of them continued to talk for a while, before Dipper fell asleep in the demon’s arms.

During the night, Bill couldn’t sleep; he didn’t want to. Both because he felt this was too good to be true and feared falling asleep would take it away, and because he was much more interested in holding Pine Tree in close, watching the little human sleep.

While Pine Tree slept, Bill observed his dreams; at first to make sure the human wasn’t having any nightmares, but then because he wanted to. Pine Tree dreamt about a lot of things that night; his friends, his family, but most of his dreams were about Bill. Some of them were lewd, featuring ideas that Bill noted to bring up with Pine Tree later, but others were just… pleasant. One dream was about the two eating dinner together, another about them watching a movie while cuddling on a couch, and another about them taking a bath together. Overall, Bill felt a burning want to make those dreams come true in the nearest future.

Bill looked through the window and noted that the sun was rising; the night had passed by quickly, and soon Pine Tree would have to leave his embrace. Oh well, at least they would have many more moments like this.

Bill noted, to his surprise, that the closet containing the ingredients for his approaching plan had been left slightly ajar; he got up from the bed and closed and locked the closet door, praising whatever deity there may be that he and Pine Tree had been too distracted to notice. Bill looked back over at Pine Tree, lying in the bed, looking so peaceful and tranquil. If he had ever had a doubt about his plans, the last night had removed it all, and as he got back into bed with Pine Tree, and the human snuggled closer to him, Bill was more determined than ever to see his plans come to fruition.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, now Bill and Dipper are officially together! Yay! Of course, this fanfic is only around halfway done, so a lot more stuff is going to happen!
> 
> Next chapter will be called "Prom Night!" and it'll take place right after Northwest Mansion Mystery! Since Dipper originally thought the ghost was a category one ghost, he won't involve Bill and will try to take on the ghost himself, leaving the events largely the same.
> 
> Hope you all enjoyed the chapter, including my badly written smut! Best case scenario, the next chapter will be up before the Gravity Falls finale, worst case scenario, it'll come out shortly after


	12. Prom Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bill wants to throw a party!... Unfortunately, this turns out to be a bad idea...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Argh! I had so much trouble with this chapter, especially the middle! I'm not too happy with how this turned out, but at least now it's over and done with! Hope you enjoy it anyway!

It was late at night when Dipper and Mabel returned to the shack from the Northwest’s party. Despite the vengeful ghost that had turned nearly all the guests into trees and tried to burn them all to death, it had been a really enjoyable evening.

Dipper opened the front door to the shack, and the twins walked into the living room to find Bill, sitting on the couch glaring at the TV.

“Bill?” Mabel sounded confused.

“Oh, right,” Dipper hit himself in realization. “The marathon! I’m sorry, Bill-“

“Where. Were. You.” Bill sounded like he was barely containing his anger.

“Sorry, Bill,” Dipper apologized. “I thought it would be over and done with quickly-“

“Where. Were. You.” Bill repeated, sounding slightly angrier.

“Pacifica needed help with a ghost,” Dipper explained.

“The Lumberjack Ghost?” Bill finally turned his gaze toward Dipper.

“Did you know about that?” Dipper asked.

“Of course I did!” Bill exclaimed. “And I want to know why you thought it was a good idea, to go up against a vengeful spirit without me!”

“I thought it was a category one ghost!” Dipper argued. “I didn’t know-“

“Guys, don’t argue!” Mabel interrupted. “Focus on other things, like, Bill! Have you noticed that Dipper is wearing a suit?”

“I can’t believe you did this!” Bill ignored Mabel. “If you had brought me, the threat would have been resolved in five minutes, and we could have gone and watched the marathon together.”

“Except that wouldn’t have solved the actual problem,” Dipper pointed out. “Mainly, that Pacifica needed to learn about the darker side of her family, so that she wouldn’t turn out like her parents!”

“I don’t care about Llama Wool! I care about you! And you could’ve died!”

“This isn’t solving anything!” Mabel shouted, shutting Bill and Dipper up. “Look, Dipper made a mistake, one he isn’t likely to make again, but he also has a point; Pacifica needed this. Bill, you’re right; Dipper put himself in danger, and you’re scared of what could have happened to him. Is there anything that can done to make all this okay?”

“Hmm,” Bill pondered. “Two things; first, Pine Tree needs to see the rest of the marathon with me.”

“I’d like that,” Dipper smiled at Bill.

“Second,” Bill continued. “I want a birthday party, tomorrow.”

“What!?!” Dipper exclaimed in surprise. “Why do you want a birthday party? It’s not even your birthday!”

“Because I don’t have a birthday,” Bill crossed his arms over his chest. “But I want one, and I want a party, a one!”

“Yes!” Mabel cheered. “Bill should have a birthday party! And we can help arrange it!”

“But it would take a lot of planning,” Dipper protested. “How are we gonna get everything done by tomorrow night?”

“Don’t worry, Pine Tree,” Bill assured the human. “I’m sure everything will be fine. If nothing else, we can worry about it tomorrow. Now, for the first part of our ‘deal’,” Bill pointed to the couch. Dipper gave a small sigh and sat down beside Bill, who immediately wrapped an arm around Dipper and held him close.

“Well, I’m going to bed,” Mabel announced and walked towards the stairs. “See you tomorrow!”

“Goodnight, Mabel,” Dipper called back. “So what did I miss?” he turned to the demon.

“The first ten episodes,” Bill replied, lying down on the couch and pulling Dipper on top of him.

“Bill!” Dipper shrieked. “The couch isn’t big enough for both of us to lie on it!”

“I know,” Bill smirked. “That’s why you’re lying on top of me.”

“W-well, aren’t I heavy?”

“Are you asking me if your incredible 140 pound frame is too much for my demonic strength?” Bill laughed.

Dipper sighed and placed his head on Bill’s chest. The demon summoned a blanket and pulled it over them.

“Comfy, Pine Tree?” Bill asked.

“I guess this is pretty nice,” Dipper smiled, but raised his head when he noticed that Bill was sniffing him. “Bill? Are you sniffing me?”

“I can’t help it, Pine Tree,” Bill responded. “You smell too good.”

“You’re just biased,” Dipper argued. “I smell like a sweaty teenager.”

“No, you smell like nature~” Bill said and took another huff. “Like pine needles, fresh moss and grass after a rainstorm~ I can also make out some cinnamon?”

“Yeah, the cinnamon is probably the soap I use,” Dipper explained awkwardly. “It was either that or Mabel’s glittery, strawberry soap.”

Bill started to kiss Dipper’s neck.

“Mhm, Bill,” Dipper groaned as the demon stuck his under the human’s shirt. “Not now, I’m too tired…”

“Alright, Pine Tree,” Bill removed his hand and gave Dipper a quick kiss on the cheek.

 

The two of them continued watching the marathon, until Pine Tree fell asleep, not a complete surprise considering the human’s day. Bill gently stroked Pine Tree’s head a couple of times, picking up on his current dream; he got a small glimpse of him and Pine Tree sitting in a starlit meadow.

Bill smiled and decided to enter the dream as well; might as well give his Pine Tree the real deal.

 

Dipper leaned back into Bill, taking a deep breath, enjoying the tranquility, when he felt Bill’s arms tightening around him.

“Bill?” Dipper turned his head towards the demon.

“Thought you might prefer the real thing over a product of your dreams,” Bill smirked.

“What?” Dipper gave him a look of confusion. “You mean… this is a dream?”

“Correct, Pine Tree,” Bill replied. “If you think real hard, I’m sure you can recall that we were in the living room a moment ago.”

“Right,” Dipper nodded. “So, you followed me in?”

“I thought you needed some good dreams, so what do you wanna do?” Bill asked the human. “We can do whatever you want!”

“I’m fine with just staying here,” Dipper shrugged.

“Pine Tree, we can look at the stars in the real world,” Bill reminded him. “Don’t you wanna do something exciting or impossible?”

“Bill, I promise we can go on some adventure the next time you decide to enter my dreamscape,” Dipper promised. “But right now, I just want to relax. If you don’t want to, you can always just leave.”

“No, I’ll stay,” Bill placed his chin on Dipper’s shoulder. “Just so this dream doesn’t turn into a nightmare.”

“I really appreciate that, Bill,” Dipper smiled at the demon and stroked his cheek. The two of them spent time just looking at the sky, trying to find constellations.

“Look!” Bill pointed upward to the left. “There’s the Big Dipper, your namesake!”

“Yeah,” Dipper remarked.

“You know, the Big Dipper has been used for millennia by sailors,” Bill told the human. “They used it, along with many other constellations, to find their way on the open sea.”

“Makes me wonder what’s gonna happen once of the stars die out,” Dipper mumbled.

“A good handful of them are most likely already dead,” Bill replied. “They might have even died before their light reached this planet.”

“I know,” Dipper sighed. “I just meant when the light catches up… Then a part of the constellation will be gone, forever.”

“Well, that’s just the way it goes, Pine Tree,” Bill frowned. “Everything dies; the stars, the earth, this entire dimension. One day, it’ll all be gone, just like my dimension.”

“What about you, Bill?” Dipper asked, his voice quiet.

“What about me?” Bill countered.

“Are you gonna die too?”

“Maybe,” Bill shrugged. “I don’t plan on dying. And demons can’t die of age; in that regard we’re pretty much immortal. But we can still be killed.”

“Have you seen anyone you cared about die before?” Dipper inquired softly. “Like your family?”

“I don’t have a family, not anymore,” Bill responded.

“Do you wanna talk about it?”

“There’s nothing to talk about; demon families are much different from human families, especially when the world is ending. It’s every demon for themselves, and my family left without me.”

“Bill, I’m so sorry,” Dipper whispered.

“Don’t be, I’m not,” Bill answered. “I think it’s time to wake up now…”

 

“Wakey-wakey, Pine Tree~” Dipper woke up to Bill gently shaking his shoulder. The human was still lying on top of the demon, and the TV was still on.

“Urgh,” Dipper groaned and got up on his legs. “What time is it?”

“Nine AM!” Bill responded excitedly. “Now, wake up Shooting Star and get dressed! We have a lot of work to do before tonight!”

 

After Dipper woke up Mabel, and the two got dressed, they all three ate a breakfast consisting of burnt toast and cereal, made by Bill, while the demon discussed his plans.

“So, we’re going to need a big place where we can throw the party,” Bill explained. “We need drinks and food, including a birthday cake with candles!”

“How old are you turning anyway, Bill?” Mabel asked, a bright smile on her face.

“It’s not his real birthday, Mabel,” Dipper reminded her.

“Ehh, I lost count,” Bill shrugged. “But I think it’s around seventeen-thousand billion, not too old for a demon.”

“Seventeen-thousand billion?” Dipper repeated, his eyes wide.

“Geez, Dipper, your boyfriend is old,” Mabel remarked. “I don’t think we can fit that many candles on the cake.”

“How about we just say you’re turning seventeen?” Dipper suggested. “I mean, most people don’t know you’re demon anyway, and if you want to throw the party somewhere big, I assume we’re inviting more than just me, Mabel, Soos and Wendy.”

“As many people as possible!” Bill cheered. “And sure, you can just shorten it to seventeen; age is meaningless to a demon.”

“I guess we need to find a bakery where we can buy a cake,” Dipper mumbled.

“What?” Mabel exclaimed. “Dipper, you should bake the cake!”

“What? Why?” Dipper looked at his sister.

“Oh, Bill!” Mabel turned over to the demon. “Dipper is really good at baking! Back home, he would always bake the cakes and I would decorate them!”

“You know how to cook, Pine Tree?” Bill smirked.

“Well, you know, basic stuff,” Dipper shrugged self-consciously. “I guess I can bake you a birthday cake…”

“How about a ‘Devil’s Food Cake’?” Mabel suggested. “That would be kinda fitting, huh?”

“Mabel, that’s too complex,” Dipper frowned. “What kind of cake do you want, Bill?”

“Hmm…” Bill pondered. “I want a marble cake! With vanilla and coffee filling!”

“Coffee filling?” Dipper repeated. “Alright, fine, it’s your birthday.”

“I’ll go ask around for a place where we hold the party,” Mabel told them and rose from the table, running out the nearest door.

“Then I’ll go out and buy decorations, snacks and beverages,” Bill said and give Dipper a kiss on the cheek. “Thank you, Pine Tree! This means a lot to me.”

 

Bill returned to the Mystery Shack a couple hours later, carrying grocery bags filled with chips, soda and decorations. The demon wondered if Pine Tree was done with the cake yet; maybe he wasn’t. Maybe the human was still working hard, wearing a flour-covered apron, a little bit of batter on one cheek.

“Oh, Pine Tree~” Bill sang as he opened the door to the kitchen, finding Pine Tree reading in the journal, not wearing an apron or covered in cake batter. “Why aren’t you wearing an apron?” Bill asked disappointed.

“First of all,” Dipper sighed as he closed the journal. “I don’t need an apron. Second of all, right now I’m just waiting for the cake to get done.” Pine Tree pointed at the oven where the cake was getting baked.

“Aw…” Bill pouted and placed the grocery bags on the table.

“Looks like you got everything,” Dipper remarked, looking through the bags. “Let’s hope Mabel found a place to hold this thing.”

Right as Dipper said that, Mabel stormed in with Wendy behind her.

“Guys! I found it!” Mabel exclaimed with delight. “A place where we can hold Bill’s birthday party!”

“Our high school has a big gym,” Wendy explained. “And since it’s summer, no one’s using it.”

“Are you sure the school’s okay with us throwing a party there?” Dipper asked, a small frown forming on his forehead.

“Yeah, they rent it out all the time,” Wendy clarified. “In fact, last month the sheriff used it to film some PSA about peer pressure. I actually think the only thing it hasn’t been used for, is a party.”

“What!?!” Mabel screamed. “But what about prom!?!”

“Our school hasn’t held a prom since the seventies,” Wendy responded. “None of the students know why. Instead, the school just arranges a big bowling trip, and everyone’s cool with that. Although, I think the reason Mr. Pines’ youth party was so popular, might be because the teens in this town really needed a party, even a terrible and cheap one.”

“Urgh, don’t remind of that,” Dipper groaned.

“Oh, that was the time where you made that elaborate plan to dance with Wendy, right?” Mabel chimed in.

“Seriously, dude?” Wendy laughed. “You could’ve just asked me.”

“That’s not even the worst part,” Dipper hid his face in his hands.

“Right, the clones,” Mabel nodded.

“Clones?” Bill questioned.

“Yeah, Dipper used the copy machine to make clones of himself.”

Bill was silent for a moment before turning to Dipper. “Pine Tree, does that copy machine still work?”

“No, you are not using it!” Dipper glared at Bill. “I don’t need a bunch of Bill clones running around!”

“I wasn’t gonna use it on myself,” Bill mumbled with a small pout.

 

By six pm, they had somehow managed to everything done on time; the food and drinks were placed on the snack tables, decorations and lights were hung, including a mirror ball made of silver that Bill had insisted on, and most, if not all, of Gravity Falls’ teenagers was attending.

Bill was practically bouncing in place out of pure excitement. “This is gonna be so great, Shooting Star!” the demon whispered through his big grin. He and Shooting Star were standing by the wall, observing the guests having fun.

“I’m glad you like it, Bill,” Shooting Star smiled at him. “It won’t be too long before you get to blow out the candles and make your first birthday wish!”

Bill’s eyes went wide. “You receive wishes on your day of birth?”

“Well, it’s mostly superstition,” Shooting Star admitted. “But who knows? So many other things turned out to be true this summer, so why not birthday wishes! Just remember, you can’t tell anyone what you wished for, otherwise it won’t come true.”

“I can handle that,” Bill promised and gave the gym hall a look over. “Have you seen Pine Tree?”

“Last I saw him was before the party started,” Shooting Star replied. “Why?”

“I wanna spend time with him, of course. Maybe even get a quick dance…”

“You haven’t gone all plan-crazy like Dipper did, right?”

“That’s the difference between me and Pine Tree, Shooting Star,” Bill grinned. “Your brother was so busy planning and thinking up scenarios for failure, that he never planned on what to do if everything went awry. Planning ahead is like a game of chess; running different scenarios through your mind is fine, but you must always be prepared to make a new plan if your opponent did not take the steps you anticipated!”

“Alright,” Mabel laughed. “You stay here and ‘plan ahead’, I’ll go and see if Dipper’s in the kitchen.”

 

Shooting Star was gone for ten minutes before she came out of the kitchen, carrying Bill’s birthday cake, all seventeen candles burning.

“Hey, everyone!” she called out to the guests. “The birthday boy’s about to blow the candles out now!”

Most of the guests continued what they were doing or completely ignored Shooting Star, but a small handful gathered around the table where Shooting Star placed the cake.

Bill walked over to Shooting Star and whispered to her discretely: “Did you find Pine Tree?”

“No,” Shooting Star whispered back. “Maybe he got cold feet? We can look for him after cake,” she stepped away from him and raised her voice: “Okay, Bill, time to make a wish!”

Bill took a deep breath, thought about his wish, and blew hard, managing to blow out all the candles on the cake.

At that moment, a big rumbling came from above them, hard enough to violently shake the lamps, and even causing some of the wall décor to fall off.

“What was that?” Shooting Star asked in confusion, looking upwards for a possible source.

“I have a bad feeling about that,” Bill mumbled and walked towards the nearest exit.

“Bill!” Shooting Star called after him, but Bill reached the door and pulled the handle to find it locked.

“It’s locked, Shooting Star,” Bill told the human as she ran over to him.

“But how?” Mabel questioned. “It doesn’t have a lock!”

“This might have something to do with Pine Tree’s disappearance…” Bill noted. “Shooting Star, where’s Red?”

“I think she’s with her friends over at the snack table.”

“We’re going to need the help of someone who knows the building,” Bill explained, walking towards the snack table with Shooting Star behind him.

Red was joining her friends in another round of humiliating Stubby for the sake of keeping their group together; this latest round included pouring cans of soda into his pants.

“Red, we need you for a moment,” Bill told the young woman.

“Sure thing,” Red laughed. “Sorry, guys, gotta go!” she waved goodbye to her friends and followed Bill into the gym’s storage room. “So, what’s the deal? And why was it necessary to drag me in here?”

“Pine Tree is gone,” Bill began. “And the doors out are locked.”

“That’s impossible,” Red shook her head. “Those doors can’t lock! That’s one of the main reasons the gym relies on a security system-“

“Does that security system include cameras?” Shooting Star interrupted.

“Yeah, but the security station is in a small building outside…”

“Is there any way for us to get out without using the doors?” Bill asked.

“Well,” Red hesitated. “Normally, I wouldn’t show this, but since you guys are my friends,” Red walked towards a cart filled with deflated balls and pushed it aside, revealing a small trapdoor beneath. “Me and friends found this,” Wendy explained. “We think it might be part of a bomb shelter from the cold war; it hasn’t been used since the eighties.”

“I thought the cold war ended long before that,” Shooting Star stated as Red opened the trapdoor and started climbing down the ladder inside.

“Yeah, but according to my dad, Gravity Falls still suspected Russia of planning a nuclear attack well into the seventies,” Red responded while Shooting Star and Bill followed her down the ladder. “And then ten years went by with an awkward ‘We don’t wanna admit we were wrong, so let’s keep it a little more’, and then everyone just forgot about it.”

After descending from the stairs, the group found themselves in a long, dark hallway. Bill summoned up a small flame to make some light, while Red pulled out her phone for the same reason, and they all walked forward.

They walked past many doors, all of them locked with a rusty chain and padlock, but after a while, they stumbled upon a door, slightly ajar, with the chain and padlock lying broken on the floor.

“That’s odd,” Red remarked. “Despite the rust, those locks are damn strong…”

“Do you think Dipper’s in there?” Shooting Star whispered to the others.

“I doubt it,” Red responded. “I don’t know how Dipper would know about these tunnels or even get to them.”

“Let’s take a look,” Bill decided and pushed the door open.

The room was small and dark, the walls were damp, a rotten smell emitting from the floor, and nothing aside from a bunch of newspaper were there.

“What’s this?” Shooting Star wondered, picked up one of the newspaper and began to read it out loud: “’Gravity Falls High School has chosen to cancel prom out of respect to the victims last year’…”

“’Victims’?” Red echoed. “When was that newspaper written?”

“Nineteen-seventy-eight,” Shooting Star replied. “Maybe we can find the newspaper that explains what happened?” Shooting Star immediately began searching through the papers, followed by Red.

“Hey, shouldn’t we be looking for Pine Tree?” Bill asked.

“I found one from nineteen-seventy-seven!” Shooting Star cheered, holding up a newspaper, and started to read it too: “’Tragedy strikes on Prom Night: Last night at Gravity Falls High School’s annual prom, a young girl was stabbed by her prom date and long-time boyfriend. Witnesses describe that the young boy, Kevin Jones, brought a kitchen knife, as well as a handgun, to the prom and stabbed his girlfriend, Jennifer Daniels, in her stomach. He left her on the dance floor, pulled out his gun, and shot five other girls, before pulling the trigger on himself, committing suicide. Jennifer Daniels bled out from her gut wound before the ambulance reached the school, but the other girls managed to survive the shots. Students at the school have told that Kevin Jones stabbed his girlfriend due to catching her cheating on him with another boy, Matthew Cartwright. Most of Kevin Jones’ friends have described him as a friendly and kind boy, and have reacted with shock to the story’…”

“Well, I guess that explains it,” Red remarked. “But why did they never try prom again? I mean, no one even remember these students anymore…”

“I don’t know and I don’t care,” Bill responded and walked through the door, leaving the two girls to follow him. “All I want, is to find Pine Tree and get back to the party!”

“Bill!” Shooting Star called after him. “Something is going on here! And it might have something to do with those newspaper articles!”

Bill ignored her and continued walking down the hall until they reached another ladder.

“Alright, this one should lead us outside,” Red stated and the group climbed up, one by one. After they were outside, Red led them towards the security room. “It’s right over here!” she said, leading the other two towards a small building close to the school.

“Bill,” Shooting Star turned to the demon. “The security building probably has an alarm system or something. Can you do something about that?”

“Easily,” Bill responded, summoning up some magic energy in his hands and sent the magic to the building. “There we go,” Bill opened the door to prove the lack of an alarm. They all three stepped inside, and Red turned on the security feed.

“Okay, now we just need to rewind the tapes to when the door was locked,” Red explained as she started rewinding the tapes. After a small while, Red stopped the tapes and started playing them normally; they showed the inside of the gym hall, the party in full swing, and Pine Tree walking through the front door. Then, after a while of nothing, it showed Bill and Shooting Star trying to open the door.

“That doesn’t make any sense…” Shooting Star whispered.

“Something supernatural is definitely going on,” Bill added. He caught something out of the corner of his eye, and turned to look at the school. “Wait, why’s there a light burning inside the school building?”

“That’s odd,” Red remarked. “The building should be locked; how would anyone get inside?”

“Bill,” Shooting Star placed her hand on the demon’s shoulder. “Do you think, maybe, Dipper has been kidnapped again?”

“It is possible,” Bill sighed. “We should probably check it out.”

 

While the front doors were locked, the group discovered that the backdoor was opened, the handle covered in a blue, glittery, see-through substance. Bill summoned a jar and put some of the stuff inside it.

“What is it, Bill?” Mabel asked.

“Ectoplasm,” the demon noted.

“Does that mean there’s a ghost around?” Wendy questioned. “Because I don’t remember seeing any ectoplasm back at the convenience store.”

“Not all types of ghost secrete ectoplasm,” Bill responded, teleporting the jar away. “And the ones that do, only do so when they take a somewhat physical form,” Bill continued as he led the two girls inside the building. “Which way is it to the room that had the lights on?”

“This way,” Wendy led them down a corridor and up some stairs, stopping in front of a classroom door. “It should be right in here.”

“Alright,” Bill turned to the girls. “Stay behind me; this ghost could be dangerous.” The demon reached out to the door handle, slowly opening the door and stepping inside.

As the door was opened, they found Dipper standing inside the classroom, staring at them with wide eyes, only those eyes were glowing an eerie light blue color.

“Dipper!” Mabel called out.

“Shooting Star, wait!” Bill held her back, and addressed the possessed Dipper. “Who are you?”

The possessed Dipper looked surprised. “W-what are you talking about?” the ghost spoke with a light, slightly echoed, female voice. “It’s me! You know?”

“Why are you possessing Pine Tree?” Bill demanded, his voice getting angrier.

“I’m…” the ghost paused. “C-can’t we just forget about this? Pretend you didn’t notice this whole possession? I just…”

“Either you answer my question or you get out of my Pine Tree now!” Bill roared.

“Please, stop yelling at me…” the ghost sobbed. “I’m sorry… I just… I need to hide from him! But this might also be my only chance to move on!”

“What are you talking about?” Mabel asked the ghost gently.

“Shooting Star, it might be a trick,” Bill warned the girl, but Mabel ignored him.

“Are you… Jennifer Daniels?” Mabel whispered.

“… Yes,” the ghost sighed. “Y-your friend said he would help me… I just wanted to see my classroom a last time before I moved on, and I can’t leave the gym hall on my own…”

“Is that why you possessed Dipper?” Wendy questioned the ghost.

“I also did it so he wouldn’t find me!”

“Who is ‘he’?” Bill asked.

“The one who killed me,” Jennifer whispered. “My boyfriend…”

“What happened to you that night?” Mabel walked closer to the ghost and placed a hand on her possessed brother’s shoulder.

“It was supposed to be the happiest night of my life!” Jennifer sobbed. “But… Kevin thought I had cheated on him with Matthew! I don’t know why!”

“Maybe someone lied to him about it?” Wendy suggested. “That kind of stuff happens all the time.”

“You don’t understand,” Jennifer cried. “Not only was Matthew gay, but he was also my cousin! I had already told Kevin that when he was acting jealous! And then he killed me… my spirit hasn’t been able to find rest… I need to participate in a prom or at least some kind of party; experience the joy that was robbed from me, before I can move on! But Kevin… he killed himself too… he told me that now nothing on earth can tear me away from him! Then, I saw you were throwing this party, and I met your friend - Dipper was it? - and I told him my story. He said he would help me, that I could possess his body and dance with his boyfriend… I am so sorry!”

“Hey, it’s alright,” Wendy tried to console the crying spirit. “But why did you shake the gym?”

“And why did you lock the doors?” Bill asked.

“… I didn’t do that…” the ghost shook Dipper’s head, before gasping in realization. “It’s him! He noticed I was gone! We have to go back!”

 

The group ran back to the gym as fast as they could, discovering the building covered in the same ectoplasm as the door handle.

“Well, that would explain why we couldn’t get out,” Mabel remarked. “Bill, can your magic do anything about this?”

“I’ll give it a try,” Bill responded and threw a fireball at the ectoplasm. The goo around the spot the fire hit burned away, revealing the door, but the ectoplasm was quickly growing back. “Hurry! Before the door gets covered!”

Wendy kicked down the door, and the group hurried in.

Inside the gym, all the guests were cowering in fear, hiding beneath tables and behind chairs. A ghostly teenage boy, with a giant, gaping bullet wound in his forehead, was hovering around.

“For the last time,” the ghostly boy said, his voice strained with anger. “Where is Jennifer!?!” the ghost grabbed the nearest guest, a young girl, and shook her violently.

“I don’t know!” the girl cried.

“No…” Jennifer whispered. A blue wisp left Dipper’s body, causing him to fall over, Bill grabbing him before he hit the ground. The wisp took the shape of a young girl, who floated up and confronted the ghost boy. “Leave her alone, Kevin!”

“Jennifer,” Kevin dropped the girl to the ground, and she immediately crawled back under a table. “I was so worried about you-“ Kevin tried to place a hand on Jennifer’s shoulder, but she moved away from him.

“Is that how you show your concern?” Jennifer interrupted.

“I thought they might have done something to you-“

“Be honest with me, Kevin,” tears filled Jennifer’s eyes. “You thought I was out cheating on you, didn’t you?”

Kevin’s face filled with wrath. “You were, weren’t you!?! You little tramp! Even as a ghost, you still try to get with as many guys as you can!”

“Trust me,” Bill placed Dipper gently on the floor and walked over to the two ghosts. “The only thing she was doing, was saying her final goodbyes.”

“Oh, is this the guy you’ve been cheating on me with!?!” Kevin laughed. “I’ll need to punish you for-“ the ghost didn’t get to finish his sentence, as he was blasted away by a fireball from Bill.

“Bill!” Mabel called to the demon. “Dipper’s waking up!”

“Wha- What happened?” Dipper rubbed his forehead.

“Dipper,” Wendy crouched down beside him. “We need to vanquish the ghost girl’s evil boyfriend!”

“Right,” Dipper nodded. “I need a silver mirror!”

“The mirror ball!” Mabel pointed towards the mirror ball hanging from the ceiling.

“Pine Tree,” Bill ran over to Dipper. “Are you alright? Possession can take a lot out of you.”

“I’m fine, Bill,” Dipper reassured the demon. “I promised Jennifer I would help her, and I think I can, but I’m gonna need your help.”

“You can count on me,” Bill promised.

Meanwhile, Kevin was recovering. He looked over at the group and saw Bill and Dipper.

“Don’t tell me,” he said as he flew towards them. “Are you two fags?”

“Actually, no,” Bill responded. “We are not cigarettes!”

“Bill, ‘fags’ is a slur for homosexuals,” Dipper whispered to his boyfriend.

“I know that, Pine Tree,” Bill frowned at the human. “I was making a joke.”

“Guess I’ll get the pleasure of you sending you to hell,” Kevin cracked his knuckles.

“No thanks,” Bill replied. “I’ve been there; the wifi there is terrible.”

Before Bill could react any further, Kevin snapped his fingers, and hundreds of sharp knives grew from the ceiling, hanging by thin threads in the air.

“When I give the go ahead,” Kevin smirked. “These knives will drop, killing everyone in this entire gym!”

“And you think that’s gonna change anything?” Dipper glared at the ghost. “Do you really think that’s gonna make Jennifer love you?”

“She already loves me!” Kevin roared. “She just needs to be reminded!”

“Why did you kill her?” Dipper asked.

“Because that tramp was cheating on me! That’s how sluts like her are! It took me a year to get that bitch to date me, and then she goes and cheats on me!”

“Did you ever try talking with her? Asking her if anything was wrong?”

“Why the hell would I do that? She was dating me! Nothing should’ve been wrong! I gave her everything, and she betrayed me!”

“Do you really think that makes it okay for you to kill her?”

“I DID IT FOR US!!!” Kevin roared.

“No, you didn’t!” a voice cried from behind Kevin. He turned around and saw Jennifer floating beside him. “You never asked me what I wanted! You just forced me to accept this choice that you made for us! Well, I have had enough, Kevin! Tonight, I’m moving on, with or without you,” she stretched her hand towards Kevin. “I’m giving you one last chance, Kevin; we can still go together.”

“… NO!!!” Kevin roared. “You’re staying here with me, whether you want to or not!”

Suddenly, Bill zoomed by, grabbing Jennifer by the hand, and pushed her through a wall to the storage room.

“What?” Kevin exclaimed in surprise.

Before the ghost had a chance to react, a blinding light hit the mirror ball, the sudden flash making Kevin look at it, sucking him inside it.

The knives hanging from the ceiling disappeared, and people started coming out from under the tables to see what was going on.

Dipper pulled out the journal from his jacket. “’ Exodus demonus! Spookus scarus! Aintafraidus noghostus! Ejicio phasma!’” Dipper read out loud from the journal. The mirror ball flashed before it returned to normal. “I… I did it…” Dipper gasped in realization.

“You can come back out now!” Bill called to Jennifer, who floated back in from the wall.

“Is… is he really gone?” she asked carefully.

“Yep, he’s moved on,” Mabel told the ghost.

“Maybe it’s about time for you to do so too?” Dipper suggested.

“Are you going to do the same thing to me?” Jennifer inquired.

“I had something else in mind,” Dipper offered the ghost his hand. She hesitated, but eventually took it, Dipper leading her out to the dance floor.

“Oh, we need music!” Mabel realized and ran over to the stereo and turned it on, before walking over to Bill. The demon was currently watching Dipper dance around with Jennifer, while leaning against the wall. “So?”

“Well, aside from the unexpected haunting, I think this birthday turned out alright,” Bill remarked.

“What about Dipper and Jennifer?” Mabel nodded her head towards the two in question.

“Are you asking me if I’m jealous?” Bill nearly snorted. “Thing is, Shooting Star, I’m the one who’s leaving with Pine Tree tonight; I have no reason to be jealous.”

Meanwhile, the song was closing to an end, and Dipper and Jennifer were finishing the dance.

“Thanks for everything, Dipper,” Jennifer whispered to the human.

“Hey, it’s the least I could do,” Dipper responded. “I hope you’ll be happy wherever you end up.”

“Thanks again,” Jennifer smiled. “And I hope you and your boyfriend will be happy together.” And with that, Jennifer faded away.

Dipper was about to leave the dance floor, when he was pulled back onto it by Bill.

“Bill, what are you doing!?” Dipper exclaimed.

“I haven’t gotten the chance to dance with you yet, Pine Tree!” Bill smiled.

“Bill, I can’t dance!” Dipper protested.

“You literally just danced with,” Bill pointed out, placing his hands on Dipper’s back.

“That was an emergency!”

“So is this!” Bill insisted. “Come on, Pine Tree! Think of it as a birthday present.”

“Fine,” Dipper groaned and placed his hands on the demon’s shoulders. “But don’t get mad at me when I step you over your toes.”

The next song began playing; it was a slow, cheesy and overly romantic pop song.

“Of all the songs that could play at this moment,” Dipper sighed as he and the demon began swaying to the music.

“Come now, Pine Tree, this isn’t so bad~”

“… I guess it isn’t.”

“I’m really proud of you, Pine Tree,” Bill smiled at the human.

“Why?” Dipper looked at the demon confused.

“You took charge of the situation,” Bill explained. “You thought up a plan under pressure, and you managed to vanquish a high ranking ghost.”

“Well, you know,” Dipper blushed. “I had to do something…”

“And you did!” Bill’s smile grew slightly apologetic. “Sorry I was so angry with you yesterday.”

“Hey, you were just worried about me.”

“Yeah, but I also underestimated your abilities,” Bill clarified. “I shouldn’t have done that; you’re capable of so much more than I thought.”

The two continued to dance like that for a while, not even noticing when the song ended and the next one began. Unbeknownst to Dipper, however, Bill’s thoughts were preoccupied with worries of what was to come; the demon knew that the twins were getting closer and closer to the one event that would change everything… and the thought of that scared Bill more than any ghost.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright! Now it's time to start on the next chapter: Not What He Seems! Unfortunately, I can't start writing on it until Monday, because I'm visiting my father this weekend...
> 
> Hopefully, it won't take me too long to write it! I don't want to keep all you wonderful readers waiting:3


	13. Not What He Seems

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stan is arrested by government, and the twins decide to find proof of his innocence. But that might be hard if their grunkle is actually guilty.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay! New chapter! Sorry that this one is so short, but about half the episode was dedicated to Stan, all of which I didn't write, since it would have remained largely unchanged. But, yeah, hope you enjoy it anyway!

Life in Gravity Falls never seized to surprise Dipper; one moment he’s cleaning up a crazy illegal fireworks party with water balloons, the next, his grunkle is being arrested by the government.

“Ugh! Hey, hands off, you stooge!” Stan groaned at the government agent apprehending him, resulting in said agent slamming him face first into a car. “Aah! I don't understand! What did I do that warrants this much arresting?”

Dipper could practically feel his heart stopped when he saw Agent Powers and Agent Trigger stepping out from the shadows.

“The government guys?” Dipper gasped. “I thought you got eaten by zombies!”

“We survived,” Agent Trigger responded. “Barely.”

“I used Trigger as a human shield,” Agent Powers explained. “He cried like a baby.”

“What? Hey! Not in front of the special-ops guys!” Trigger nearly whined. Powers pulled out a digital tablet, showing some recorded footage to Stan and the twins.

“This is security footage of a government waste facility,” Powers clarified. The video showed someone, wearing a radiation suit, stealing barrels from an otherwise empty room. “At o'four hundred hours last night someone robbed three hundred gallons of dangerous waste.”

“What?” Stan exclaimed. “You think that’s me!?!”

“Don't play dumb with us, Pines,” Powers told him.

“But- But I actually am dumb!” Stan protested as he was led away by an agent. “Last night I was stocking the gift shop. I swear!”

“Wait! Grunkle Stan!” Mabel shouted. “You've got the wrong guy! Our Grunkle Stan might shoplift the occasional tangerine, but he's not some evil super villain!”

“Listen, kid,” Agent Powers pointed a finger at the twins. “We've been watching your family all summer and we've seen some disturbing things. But nothing as dangerous as what your uncle is hiding. Somewhere hidden in this shack is a doomsday device.” He turned towards Trigger and gave him the tablet. “Trigger, you take the children. I'll talk to the old man.” He turned back to Dipper and Mabel. “Sorry to break it to you kids,” he put on his sunglasses. “But you don't know your uncle at all.”

Before the twins knew it, two agents had grabbed them and led them towards one of the government cars. They saw Stan, handcuffed, being driven off in another car.

“Kids, you gotta believe me! For once I'm actually innocent!” Stan pleaded to them as the car drove by. “Kids!”

“What’s going on here?” a familiar voice asked. Dipper turned his head, relieved to see Bill walking towards Agent Trigger.

“Identify yourself,” Trigger told the demon.

“I work here!” Bill yelled. “What are you doing with the saplings!?!”

“They are being taken to child services until we’ve contacted their parents, and they come get them,” Trigger explained. “Now, please leave; the Mystery Shack is closed due to a government investigation.”

“Bill!” Dipper yelled as he and Mabel were forced into the government vehicle.

“Pine Tree!” Bill called back to him.

“Sir, I’m asking you to please leave the premises,” Trigger walked into the driver seat in the car, and the vehicle drove off. Dipper saw through the window Bill’s eye following them, and swore he could see the demon’s body start twitching.

“Dipper, this is crazy,” Mabel whispered to her brother. “There's no way Stan was stealing hazardous waste. We gotta clear his name.”

Dipper thought for a moment, spotting a surveillance camera in the car.

“Hmm… wait a minute,” he pondered. “The security tapes! Didn't Stan say he was restocking the gift shop last night? If we could get the Mystery Shack surveillance tapes, we could prove he's innocent!”

“We just need to think of a way- Argh!” Mabel was interrupted when the vehicle was suddenly hit by something.

“What was that!?!” Agent Trigger exclaimed. Dipper and Mabel looked out the back window and saw Bill; both his hands engulfed in fire, an expression of pure rage on his face. The demon was running at an incredible speed, getting closer and closer to the car. Bill threw another fireball, hitting the car and sending it off the road. “Mayday! Mayday! Agent down!” Trigger called out, trying to regain control of the vehicle, but ended up crashing into multiple trees, getting stuck between the car and a branch. “Darn branch!”

Bill ran down to the car, violently tore off the passenger doors, and helped Dipper and Mabel out.

“Backup!” Trigger called into his earpiece. “Requesting backup!”

Bill pulled out the earpiece and used his flames to melt it into a grey goob.

“That’s what happens when you try to take those saplings away from me,” Bill growled at the agent.

“What are you?” Agent Trigger gasped, an underlying tone of fear in his voice.

“Nothing you need to worry about, because you didn’t anything,” Bill glared at the government agent. “You lost control of your vehicle, crashed into the trees and passed out. By the time you awoke, the Pines twins were gone. Got it?”

Trigger nodded silently, his eyes wide and body shaking slightly.

“Thanks for the rescue, Bill!” Mabel gave the demon a big hug before darting off. “Come on, Dipper! We're gonna go clear our uncle's name!”

“Yeah, thanks, Bill,” Dipper gave the demon a small smile.

“Oh, you know I can’t have you leaving Gravity Falls just yet,” Bill smirked and began to follow Mabel, albeit at a slower pace.

“Oh, you poor kids,” Agent Trigger sighed. “You really think your uncle's innocent? I've seen it all before,” Dipper paused and turned toward the government agent. “False names, double lives, one minute they're playing with water balloons, the next they're building doomsday devices. Your uncle scammed the whole world. You gonna let him scam you, too?”

“You…” Dipper hesitated for a moment. “You don't know what you're talking about.”

“You're gonna regret this!” Agent Trigger called after Dipper as he followed Bill and Mabel back to the shack.

 

When the trio arrived, they found the shack heavily guarded with government agents. Bill and the twins took cover behind a bush near the forest in order to figure out a plan for getting inside the shack.

“Bill,” Dipper looked at the demon. “Do you think you could use your powers to take out the agents? Maybe knock them out or something?”

“Not with this many agents,” Bill shook his head.

“Alright, then here’s the plan,” Mabel whispered, and pulled out her grabbling hook. “Grabbling hook~” she simply said, but the message was clear. Bill teleported inside the shack while Mabel shot the grabbling hook through a broken window. She and Dipper glided along the rope into their room.

“We’re in,” Dipper stated as he fist bumped his sister.

“There you are,” Bill appeared through door. “There are agents on the ground floor too. Not as many as outside, so it shouldn’t be a problem, but we should still be careful.”

“Got it, Bill,” Mabel nodded. “Now, time to find that security footage.”

The trio slowly crept out of the room and down the stairs, spotting a single agent standing guard by the living room. Bill conjured up some magic that looked like light blue dust and blew it towards the agent. The agent yawned once before he fell over forward.

“Quick, before another guard comes,” Bill whispered leading the twins into Stan’s office.

After ensuring that there were no agents inside the office, Dipper locked the door behind them.

“Alright,” Dipper muttered to himself. “If I was Stan, where would I hide those surveillance tapes?”

Dipper started looking through the bookshelf and file cabinet, while Bill leaned up against the wall.

“Bill, aren’t you gonna help us looking?” Mabel asked the demon.

“Nah,” Bill shrugged. “I have a feeling you two are gonna handle this just fine.”

“Damnit, Bill,” Dipper hissed. “We don’t have time for this! Grunkle Stan has been arrested by the government! We need to find the tapes as quickly as possible, so if you know where they are-“

“Wait!” Mabel interrupted her brother and pointed to the fake mounted head of a jackalope, hanging on the wall, beside Bill. “The antelabbit!”

“Don’t you mean ‘jackalope’?” Dipper questioned her.

“Pfft! That can’t be right,” Mabel snorted and fixed the bent antler on the horned rabbit. The wall moved, revealing two old TV monitors and a tape player. “Yes!” Mabel exclaimed, while Dipper gave Bill a suspicious look.

“Did you know the security system was there?” Dipper asked the demon.

“Maybe I did,” Bill smirked. “Anyway, I told you, you could handle it.”

Mabel pointed to the tape stuck halfway in the tape player. “It’s this week! This is it!”

Mabel pushed in the tape, and the video feed on the screen cut to a recording taking place in the gift shop; Soos was doing the worm dance while Wendy and Mabel were cheering him on. Dipper gave his sister a disapproving look.

“Someone yelled ‘Wormy Dance’,” Mabel explained. “We had to! Fast-forward.”

Dipper fast-forwarded the tape a couple hours, close to the end of the day. This time the recording was of Dipper and Bill, making out on the counter.

“Oops, forgot about that,” Dipper mumbled, a blush forming on his face.

“Haha!” Mabel laughed. “So that’s why you two insisted on taking the last shift!”

“No need to be embarrassed, Pine Tree,” Bill placed a hand on Dipper’s shoulder. “At least it’s not a recording of what happened later in my motel room~”

“Fast-forward,” Dipper simply said and fast-forwarded the recording again.

This time the video showed Stan, restocking the gift shop like he said he did.

“Ha! There it is!” Dipper exclaimed, pointing at the screen. “Stan restocking like he said! And the date shows it was last night! It's proof! He's innocent!”

But then the recording showed Stan walking out of the shack. Over an hour later, he still hadn’t returned.

“Uh-oh,” Dipper said to himself.

“Uh, maybe he's just going to the bathroom outdoors,” Mabel told her brother, trying to calm his, as well as her own, fears. “The way nature intended!”

Dipper began fast-forwarding the video again. He noticed that Bill was being uncharacteristically quiet.

At five am, a figure in a hazmat suit, similar to the one on the government tablet, stepped inside. The figure was wheeling in multiple barrels of radioactive waste.

“Oh no, Stan, you didn't…” Dipper sighed.

“Don't panic,” Mabel told him. “That could be anyone in that suit!”

The figure on the tape dropped one of the barrels on their foot, resulting in a familiar voice yelling out: “Gah! Hot Belgian waffles! Wait, I'm alone. I can swear for real!” the figure took a deep breath, and yelled out even louder: “SON OF A-“

Dipper shut off the tape while Mabel covered her ears.

“That’s him alright,” Dipper remarked.

“Okay, okay, so maybe Grunkle Stan stole some toxic waste,” Mabel sounded like she was close to hyperventilating. “That doesn't mean he's leading a nefarious double life!”

Dipper searched under the security monitors, pulling out an old cardboard box.

“Mabel, I'm not so sure about that…” Dipper whispered to his sister, turning on the desk lamp, revealing the box’s content.

The box was almost halfway full with passports, driver licenses and other ID’s.

“’Stetson Pinefield’?” Mabel read one of the documents out loud.

“’Hal Forrester’?” Dipper read another one. “These are fake ID’s, Mabel! You wouldn't need these unless you were trying to hide your real identity!”

“But why would Stan do that?” Mabel asked as she pulled out a newspaper clipping, lying in the bottom of the box. The newspaper’s headline was “Stan Pines Dead”. Mabel handed the newspaper over to Dipper.

“What!?!” Dipper exclaimed. “’Stan Pines Dead’?”

“’ Foul play suspected in Pines' death’,” Mabel read the article out loud. “’ Fiery car crash’, ‘brakes cut’… by who?”

Dipper found another newspaper clipping, a small one featuring a picture of Stan. “’ Unnamed grifter at large’? Why would they call him unnamed? Unless Stan…”

“Isn’t Stan…” Mabel finished. “Bill! Is any of this true!?!”

Bill looked vaguely uncomfortable. “I had kinda hoped you wouldn’t find that box…”

“Bill,” Dipper looked intently at the demon while Mabel started looking through the box. “We need answers! If Stan Pines is dead, who have me and Mabel been living with!?!”

“Ugh, there's gotta be some kind of explanation in here somewhere,” Mabel said as she dug through the fake ID’s in the box, finding a small piece of paper. “What the… ‘secret code to hideout’?”

“Let me see that,” Dipper pulled out the journal and a dark light, trying to find a code that matched. “’A1, B, C3’… I've never seen a code like this!”

“Wait! I have!” Mabel exclaimed. “Dipper, it’s the vending machine!”

The twins immediately ran towards the door.

“Wait!” Bill called out to them. “I really think it’s best that you wait for Stan to come back!”

“He’s not coming back!” Dipper yelled. “He got arrested by the government, something that you really should have seen coming! Especially since you apparently knew about all this, and you didn’t tell us!”

“Pine Tree,” Bill took a deep breath. “Yes, I knew about all this, but I couldn’t tell you! It wasn’t my place! If I told you about this, I had no idea what would happen-“

“Come on, Dipper,” Mabel opened the door and pulled her brother along. “I’m sure once we find Stan’s hideout, we’ll find out that we were worried about nothing!”

 

The twins ran towards the gift shop, Bill right behind them.

“Where are all the agents at?” Mabel wondered out loud. When they reached the gift shop, they found Soos standing guard in front of the vending machine.

“Soos!” Dipper exclaimed, startling the handyman.

“Ahh!” Soos gasped. “Oh, guys! Where’ve you been?”

“What are you doing here?” Dipper questioned.

“Stan gave me a mission to protect this machine!” Soos explained. “Ha! And I thought I loved snacks.”

“Soos, listen,” Dipper took a deep breath. “Something huge is going on here. If Stan is hiding some dangerous secret, we need to find out what it is! I need you to step aside.”

“Yeah, just let us through so we can prove this is all just a big misunderstanding,” Mabel added.

“Guys, I know this seems crazy,” Soos began. “But I promised Stan I would guard this with my life.”

“Bill,” Dipper turned his gaze to the demon. “Are you gonna help us here?”

“… I can’t,” Bill looked away. Dipper’s eyes met his sister’s, and he gave her a nod.

“I'm sorry, Soos,” Mabel apologized to the handyman and blew a handful of glitter into his face.

“Argh!” Soos screamed. “Attack glitter! It’s pretty, but it hurts!”

The twins then jumped the handyman, trying their best to apprehend the much larger adult, to no avail.

“Aw, come on!” Soos whined. “I don't wanna fight you guys! This hurts me more than it hurts you!” as he said that, he was kicked in the stomach by Mabel. “Ah! Seriously, it hurts me way more that it hurts you!”

Suddenly, the vending machine’s door opened, causing the three to stop their fighting. Dipper looked up and saw that Bill had inputted the code, a forlorn expression on the demon’s face.

“You deserve to know,” Bill sighed and looked intently at Dipper. “I think the tower is about to crumble, and that means you must make a decision,” and with that, the demon walked through the door, leaving the other three to follow him.

Soos stepped through after Bill, followed by Mabel and then Dipper, leading the group down a pair of old, dusty stairs.

“It’s like something from a video game,” Soos remarked.

“Or a dream,” Mabel added.

“… Or a nightmare,” Dipper finished in a whisper. They found Bill waiting for them inside an old elevator. The other three stepped inside, and Bill pressed the button for the lowest floor. The elevator lowered, passed an old door, and didn’t stop until it reached an old laboratory, which looked like it had been somewhat recently used.

Dipper, Soos and Mabel all gasped as they stepped out of the elevator.

“Guys, are we dreaming?” Mabel wondered. “Somebody wake me up.”

“This can’t be real…” Dipper mumbled to himself.

“I don’t understand,” Soos shook his head. “Why would Mr. Pines have all this?”

“It's just like that bunker in the woods,” Dipper muttered.

“But what is it doing underneath the Mystery Shack?” Soos questioned.

“Okay, okay,” Mabel tried to keep her breathing under control. “So he’s got a huge gigantic lab! That doesn't mean anything bad! Everyone's got secrets!” Mabel spotted a framed photo of her and Dipper, and she picked it up, looking at it sadly. “It's still Stan, and he loves us. And we love him. Right?”

Dipper looked at the desk where Mabel found the photo, betrayal filling his entire body with what he saw. “It can’t be…” he whispered. “It’s impossible,” two journals, identical to Dipper’s, only they had a one and a two, instead of a three, lied on the desk. “The other two journals!?! All this time… All this time, Stan had them!?! I can’t believe it!” Dipper kicked a nearby machine in frustration. “Was anything he said to us real!?! Why would he have those two journals!?!”

“Maybe he’s the author?” Soos suggested.

“Or maybe he stole them from the author!” Dipper argued. “Maybe the reason he has all those fake IDs is because he is a master criminal, and this machine is his master plan!” Dipper opened all the journals and placed them together, revealing the plans for the machine in front of them. He shined the black light on them, showing writing in invisible ink that warned of the dangers of the machine, many of which saying that it could destroy the entire universe.

“Whoa,” Mabel gasped.

“’I was wrong the whole time’,” Dipper read the warnings out loud. “’ The machine was meant to create knowledge but it is too powerful. I was deceived, and now it is too late. The device, if fully operational, could tear our universe apart! It must not fall into the wrong hands. If the clock ever reaches zero, our universe is doomed’!”

The trio looked at the clock, counting down from one and a half minute.

“It's the final countdown!” Soos shouted. “Just like they always sung about!”

“Bill!” Mabel yelled at the demon, while Dipper flipped through the journals. “How do we stop this thing!?!”

“I can’t tell you!” Bill insisted.

“The agents were right!” Dipper asserted as he found a page in the journal called: “Manual Override”- “We have to shut it down!” They all four ran into the portal room as the ground began to shake. “There!” Dipper yelled, pointing at three keys in a control panel that had “Manual Override” written above it. “Quick!” Dipper, Soos and Mabel ran over to the keys while Bill looked intently at the portal, a somewhat sorrowful look in his eyes that went unnoticed by the others. “Turn these, together!” The three of them all turned a key at the same time and the top of a lever in the middle of the room popped off, revealing a red button. “Bill! Press the button!” Dipper called to the demon.

Bill looked from the portal to the lever and back again, standing almost frozen in place.

“Bill! What are you doing!?!” Dipper shouted. When Bill still didn’t move or react, Dipper ran to the button himself, preparing to shut the portal down. “This all stops… now!”

“DON’T TOUCH THAT BUTTON!!!” a familiar voice yelled, and the group turned around to find Stan entering the room, clearly out of breath, stopping Dipper in his tracks. “Please don't press that shutdown button, you gotta trust me.”

“And I should trust you why!?!” Dipper asked. “After you stole radioactive waste? After you lied to us all summer!?! I don’t even know who you are!”

“Look, I know this all seems nuts, but I need that machine to stay on!” Stan insisted, slowly moving towards the group. “If you'd just let me explain-“ Stan was interrupted by his watch starting to beep and the earth beginning to shake. “Uh-oh, oh, no! Brace yourselves!”

The portal started glowing, electrical currents flying through it, the sound of machines whirring and humming, and they were all lifted from the ground. Bill seemed to finally come out of his state of shock, as he reacted to the sudden loss in gravity by grabbing Dipper and flinging the boy towards a wooden support that he could hold on to.

“Dipper!” Mabel called out, her ankle hooked to a wire stuck to the lever.

“Mabel! Hurry!” Dipper shouted back at her. “Shut it down!”

Mabel used the wire to climb towards the lever, grabbing onto it, and preparing to press the button.

“No!” Stan yelled and tried his best to get closer to the girl despite the lack of gravity. “Mabel, Mabel, wait! Stop!” he was subsequently tackled by Soos, sending them both further away from Mabel. “Soos, what're you doing!?!” Stan shouted as he hit the handyman on the head. “I gave you an order!”

“Sorry, Mr. Pines, if that is your real name,” Soos apologized. “But I have a new mission now; protecting these kids!”

“Soos, you idiot! Let me go!” Stan yelled and tried to get free from the handyman’s grip.

Dipper tried to send himself flying off the support and help Soos, but was grabbed by Bill and held back.

“Bill! What are you doing!?!” Dipper screamed.

“It’s too dangerous, Pine Tree!” Bill shouted, sounding mildly terrified. “I’m not letting you anywhere near that machine! Not while it’s still active!”

“Go! Mabel, press the red button!” Dipper called out to his sister. “Shut it down!”

“No, you can’t!” Stan yelled, still trying to fight off Soos. “You gotta trust me!”

“Grunkle Stan!” Mabel sobbed as she started to cry, her tears floated upward due to the lack of gravity. “I don't even know, if you're my grunkle! I wanna believe you, but-“

“Then listen to me,” Stan interrupted her. “Remember this morning when I said I wanted to tell you guys something?”

The portal flashed again, a powerful force hitting them. Stan and Soos were sent to the opposite wall, while Bill’s grip on Dipper tightened, and Mabel prepared to press the button.

“I wanted to say that you're gonna hear some bad things about me,” Stan continued. “And some of them are true, but trust me; everything I’ve worked for, everything I care about, it’s all for this family!”

“Mabel, what if he’s lying!?!” Dipper shouted. “This thing could destroy the universe! Listen to your head!”

“Look into my eyes, Mabel!” Stan sounded close to tears. “You really think I’m a bad guy!?!”

“He’s lying! Shut it down NOW!” Dipper screamed.

“Bill!” Mabel cried. “What should I do!?!”

“I can’t tell you that!” Bill insisted as he kept holding on to Dipper. “Whatever choice you make, I know will be the right one!”

Mabel looked from Bill, to Dipper, then to Stan. “… Grunkle Stan,” she shut her eyes and let go of the lever. “I trust you.”

“MABEL, ARE YOU CRAZY!?!” Dipper shouted out, seeing Mabel float closer to the portal’s opening. “WE’RE ALL GONNA-“

He was cut off when the countdown reached zero. A great flash of light appeared as everyone, even Bill, screamed.

Gravity returned, sending all of them crashing to the floor, Bill still holding on to Dipper and used his own body to break the human’s fall. The machine was completely destroyed, a single, humanoid figure standing in front of the wreckage. When Bill saw the figure, he let go of Dipper and moved slowly away, towards the back of the room.

The mysterious figure stepped forward, spotted journal number one and picked it up, placing it inside the old tattered jacket they were wearing.

“What…?” Dipper gasped as he saw the figure. “Who is that?”

“The author of the journals…” Stan responded as the figure pulled off the goggles that covered their face, revealing a face that looked almost identical to Stan’s. “… My brother.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright! One more chapter down! Also as a heads up, I have decided that Mystery Trio will be canon in this au, because one; I love the mystery trio, and two; A Tale of Two Stans is an important part of the Gravity Falls story, including this au, but if everything happened like it did in canon, I would only need to rewrite very few parts, resulting in an unbearably short chapter.
> 
> If you're wondering how Mystery Trio will become canon in this au, let's say that Bill had something to do with Ford's perpetual motion machine getting destroyed (there have been a lot of theories involving this), but since Bill doesn't have any big, world destroying plans in this au, the machine isn't destroyed, so Stan and Ford never have that big fight that destroys their friendship.
> 
> Please leave a comment if you want to:3 I'll start on the next chapter as soon as possible!


	14. A Tale of Two Stans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Stan Twins explain the events that led to Ford getting stuck in the portal, and Bill bares his heart to Dipper.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> God, this took so much longer than expected, but this was a really difficult chapter, which is why it's so short.
> 
> I couldn't decide if I just wanted the Stan Twins to explain the events or if I wanted to use flashbacks. In the end, I thought the flashbacks would make the story too chaotic, and would be too similar to the flashbacks in the actual episode anyway, so I just had the Stan Twins explain them.
> 
> Also, since Stan didn't break Ford's perpetual motion machine in this AU, the Stan Twins are a lot more friendly with each other here. They're still kinda angry at one another, but they're gonna get over it quickly and be back to friends.

Dipper could barely believe it; there stood the author of the journals, the person he had been searching for all this time, and it was his Grunkle Stan’s brother.

“Finally!” Stan exclaimed, his eyes and voice filled with joy. “After all these long years of waiting, you're actually here!” Stan stretched out his arms, looking like he was getting ready to hug the author. “Brother!”

And the author punched Stan in the face.

“Oh! Ow!” Stan yelled. “What the heck was that for!?!”

“This was an insanely risky move; restarting the portal!” the author told Stan. “Didn’t you read my warnings?”

“Warnings, schmarnings,” Stan dismissed. “How's about maybe a thanks for saving you from what appears to be, I don't know, some kind of sci-fi side burn dimension?”

“Thank you? You were the reason why I ended up in that portal in the first place!”

“Yeah, and I just got you out-“

“I never asked you to bring back!”

“Hey, hi, Mabel here,” Mabel interrupted the two men’s argument. “Quick question; WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON HERE!?!”

“Stan, who are they?” the author pointed to Soos and the twins.

“They’re your family, Poindexter; Shermy’s grandkids,” Stan explained.

“I- I have a niece and nephew? Wait, who’s that?” the author spotted Bill who was hanging around the back of the room.

“Umm…” Bill seemed somewhat at a loss for words. “I’m… William, nickname’s Bill… I work for your brother.”

The author glared suspiciously at the demon, but was distracted by Dipper, who had gotten past his initial shock.

“I- I can’t believe,” Dipper gasped. “You’re the author of the journals!”

“You’ve read my journals?” the author asked somewhat sheepishly.

“I haven’t just read them; I’ve lived them!” Dipper began ranting excitedly. “I've been waiting for so long to meet you, I-I don't know what to say I have so many question I-“ Dipper stopped and bended over, breathing heavily. “Oh, I think I’m gonna throw up…” Mabel ran over to help him, but he brushed her off. “No, no, false alarm… Just gotta ride it out!”

“All this is very touching,” Bill announced. “But I would note that an entire governmental department is currently surveying the area outside.”

“What!?!” the author shouted in disbelief.

“I have no idea how it happened,” Stan shrugged.

The author ran over to some monitors and turned them on, revealing a video feed of the agents swarming the shack from outside.

“Okay, it’s alright,” the author sighed. “We've got a while before they find this room. We just need to lay low and think of a plan.”

“Well, it looks like we're stuck down here for a while,” Mabel remarked. “Who wants to tell us their entire mysterious backstory?”

“Yes, I have some questions about this myself, Stanley,” the author threw an angry glare at Stan.

“’Stanley’?” Dipper questioned.

“But your name is ‘Stanford’,” Mabel added, looking at her Grunkle Stan.

“Wait, you took my name?!” the author exclaimed. “What have you been doing all these years, you knucklehead!?”

“Yeah, Grunkle Stan, no more lies!” Dipper stated. “You owe us some answers: What's the deal with this portal? Why did you keep this a secret?”

“And what’s the story with you and your brother?” Mabel asked.

“I hope all this aligns exactly with my fanfic, Stan,” Soos added. “If not, I will be very disappointed.”

“There’s not much to tell,” Stan responded. “Me and my brother grew up with our parents in Glass Shard Beach, New Jersey. We were best friends and would explore the beach together. He was always the smart one, and I was the talented one, of course. In our late teens, Ford here got a chance to win a scholarship at some fancy-pants university, and he succeeded with some… mini-merry-go-round or something.”

“It was a perpetual motion machine, Stanley,” Ford corrected.

“Pfft! Nerd,” Stan said under his breath before continuing. “Well, he got the scholarship, and once high school was over, he traveled there. Meanwhile, I was stuck in New Jersey, until my dad kicked me out of the house; he couldn’t see why if Ford could go to one of the best universities in the country, I couldn’t get a job to support myself. It… didn’t turn out that well. In fact, it got me a long criminal record, many fake identities, multiple arrests, plus I got banned in more than twenty states.”

“Whoa,” Mabel remarked. “So that explains all the fake IDs.”

“But wait,” Dipper interrupted and turned to Ford. “What about you?”

“Well, after earning multiple PhD’s and writing a nationally ranked thesis,” Ford began to explain. “I was awarded an enormous grant for my own research. My whole life I'd been teased for my six fingers. But that got my thinking about anomalies: things that were odd, unusual, statistically improbable. And according to my investigations, there was one place with a higher concentration of these things than anywhere else. A small lumber town in roadkill country, Oregon; Gravity Falls. But, I knew I would need help in order to fulfill my research. So I called in my college roommate, Fiddleford McGucket, and managed to track down my brother’s address; I had no idea that dad had thrown him out of the house, and it did lead to a rather big fight with my old man. Fiddleford’s engineering skills provided us with better knowledge to understand the working of magic and magical artifacts, which led to some interesting projects and experiments. Meanwhile, Stan’s strength was a valuable asset when it came to the more… hostile creatures we encountered, and his attitude even turned out to have diplomatic uses in some cases. And I, I recorded all our findings in three journals-“

“The journals!” Dipper screeched with joy, resulting in everyone staring awkwardly at him. “Sorry, sorry… Just got excited there… about the journals… Keep- Keep talking.”

“During our many adventures,” Ford continued. “I got the idea to build an inter-dimensional portal; Gravity Falls’ supernatural creatures, their way of life and culture, had already broadened my world views, so imagined how much knowledge and understanding could be achieved with a portal to other dimensions! I had… made the decision to keep Stanley out of this project…”

Ford’s eyes met his brother’s. Stan turned his head away, an angry look on his face.

“Many long nights were spent perfecting the machine,” Ford continued. “It would be a crowning achievement of my studies. But when the time came to test it… An accident happened, and Fiddleford almost got sucked in through the portal. I managed to get him out, but he was… different, traumatized. He tried to convince to destroy the portal, but when I refused to listen to him, he quit. After that, I became paranoid; I shut myself away from everyone for weeks. In the end, I decided to hide Journal 2 and 3. I was about to find a way to hide the last one, when Stan discovered the lab.”

“You make it sound like it was an accident,” Stan asserted. “I had been looking through this house top to bottom to find out what happened to you! One day you’re there, and the next, you’re gone! I thought something had happened to you! Turns out, you just decided that I wasn’t smart enough to join yours and McGucket’s nerd project!”

“I asked Stanley to hide the last journal, somewhere not even I would know about,” Ford ignored Stan’s interruption. “I also asked him, once he had hidden the journal, to never contact me again. As you can imagine he didn’t take it well.”

“Don’t sugar-coat it, Ford,” Stan interrupted. “I punched you in the face, and we started fighting!”

“Which, in turn, led to an accident where the portal was reactivated and I fell through.”

“And me, being left alone,” Stan added. “Look, I tried to call up dad, tell him you disappeared, but I couldn’t; I mean, how would he react if he found out his favorite son had gone missing because of his screw up son? But I had to do something, so, I faked my own death and took over your identity; the townsfolk never even noticed. But, well, money was scarce, and people were curious about your experiments, so I started the Mystery Shack, as a way to earn enough money to keep the house and property. By day I was Stanford Pines: Mr. Mystery. But by night I was down in the basement, trying to bring the real Stanford back. I couldn't risk anyone learning the truth and sabotaging my mission, so I lied to everyone: the town, my family, your parents, even you kids.”

“So all this time you were just trying to save your brother,” Dipper stated. “Grunkle Stan, I'm so sorry I didn't believe you.”

“That's okay, kid,” Stan assured him. “I probably wouldn't have believed me either.”

“I heard talking!” a voice sounded from upstairs. “It was coming from downstairs!”

“I believe the agents are close to discovering our location,” Bill chimed in after his uncharacteristically long silence.

“What do we do!?!” Mabel shouted in panic. Dipper was about to ask Bill for his assistance in dealing with the agents, but was cut off by Soos.

“Aw, man,” Soos moaned. “I was so spellbound by your dramatic tale I forgot all about those dudes.”

“Wait, forget,” Dipper pondered before realization struck him. “That’s it!” he pulled Bill aside, away from the others. “Bill, if I tell you exactly where I left the memory erase gun, do you think you could summon it here?”

“Probably,” Bill responded with a whisper.

“Alright, I left it under my bed, right below the area where my pillow is,” Dipper explained. Bill focused his magic and managed to covertly summon the gun without drawing the others’ attention. “Hey, look everyone! I had hidden it inside my vest!” Dipper said as he returned to the rest of the group.

“Of course!” Ford yelled in delight as he took the memory gun from Dipper. “I don't know how you got a hold of one of these but, this is perfect!” Ford began plugging the gun into some kind of machinery. “If I can just amplify the signal to a radio headset frequency… There. Now everyone PLUG YOUR EARS! GET DOWN! NOW!”

Everyone did as Ford told and stayed in their current position until Ford gave them the clear. The shockwave from the machine had apparently made all who heard, i.e. the agents, forget everything about the mysterious phenomena in Gravity Falls. After Ford posed as a government official, using a stack of drawings that Mabel had made of a “snadger”, he managed to get all the info the government had collected on Stan and Gravity Falls in a flash drive, which had promptly been fed to Gompers. Soos had walked home after that, calling Wendy up to tell her about everything she missed, while the twins and Bill were spending time in the twins’ bedroom.

“So, Bill,” Mabel addressed the demon. “How come you were acting all weird today?”

“Well, you can’t blame me for getting a little angry when someone threatens my two favorite meatsacks,” Bill smirked.

“No, not that,” Mabel clarified. “You were all quiet and distant, and even more cryptic than usual.”

“Mabel’s got a point,” Dipper added. “And you must’ve known that Stan wanted to use the machine to rescue Ford. Is that why you didn’t turn the machine off?”

“It’s… a little more complicated than that,” Bill sighed. “Look, let’s just say that me and Sixer share a history together. I mean, you already knew that, didn’t you, Pine Tree? With how much your head is stuck in that old journal!”

“Yeah, and the journal mostly talks about how you’re an untrustworthy liar,” Dipper argued. “What happened between you and Ford?”

“It’s not important!” Bill insisted. “We just… parted on bad terms! I’m sure you’ve tried that with someone before; they used to be your friend, but then you grow apart, and suddenly you feel like you can’t even recognize them anymore.”

“But why didn’t you tell us about the portal?” Mabel asked. “You must’ve known that there was a chance I would’ve pressed the button.”

“Honestly?” Bill sighed. “I didn’t know if I even wanted Sixer saved. At my full power, I’m capable of predicting all possible events, no matter the variables. But in my current form, there’s only so much I can do; I knew and know all timelines and events that could’ve transpired if Ford remained inside the portal, not all of them good, but now that Ford’s here, it introduces so many other variables, that I don’t know what the future holds! I don’t know what will happen, and that honestly scares me!”

“Well, Bill,” Dipper shrugged. “Now you have a better idea what it’s like to be a human. Anyway, it’s getting late; you should probably go home.”

“… If I go downstairs, Ford is going to corner me,” Bill replied in a quiet voice.

“What?” Mabel cocked her head in confusion.

“Ford doesn’t know that it’s me,” Bill explained. “But I know he suspects me. I can’t let him find out.”

“Let’s have a sleepover!” Mabel squealed with delight, waking up a sleeping Waddles who echoed her excitement with his own squeal.

Dipper was about to suggest that he could escort Bill to the front door or that Bill just teleport back home, but the boy got the feeling that the demon was only telling part of the truth; Bill seemed so shaken, almost afraid. This was probably the most human Dipper had ever seen the demon be.

“Mabel’s got the right idea,” Dipper laid a hand on the demon’s shoulder.

“Welp, guess I’ll sleep on the floor!” Bill grinned, his previous melancholy evidently forgotten.

“Bill, there’s room enough in my bed for the both of us,” Dipper mumbled with a blush on his face.

“Aww!” Mabel gushed. “That’s so cute! But try to keep your hands off each other long enough to fall asleep~”

“Mabel!” Dipper screeched. “I’m not gonna- not when you-“

“We will~” Bill interrupted, putting a hand on Dipper’s shoulder.

 

The trio moved on to partake in classic slumber party activities, as per Mabel’s insistence, including a pillow fight, which ended with the room covered in feathers and Dipper covered in bruises because of Bill’s hard hitting, truth or dare, which mostly resulted in Dipper being forced to tell embarrassing secrets and Bill choosing dare on every turn, and a short round of not very scary horror stories, complete with flashlights.

After a couple hours of these activities, they all went to bed, Dipper having to sleep atop of Bill because of the small bed. After about twenty minutes of trying and failing to turn his mind off and go to sleep, Dipper heard Bill whispering to him:

“Pine Tree? Are you asleep?”

Dipper didn’t answer. He knew that a dream demon must be able to tell whether someone was asleep or not, making Dipper question why Bill even asked him.

“I’m sorry you couldn’t trust me today,” Bill continued, either aware of the fact that Dipper was awake or choosing to pretend that Dipper was asleep. Maybe Bill could only tell Dipper these things if the demon convinced himself that the human couldn’t hear him. “I… I am scared. I don’t like not knowing… I have all these plans, all these dreams, and now I can’t know if they’re ever going to come true… But as long as I have you, I don’t care… I just wanna be with you… That might be that weird for a human, but for a demon, this kind of attachment is unheard of… Demons are supposed to be selfish, only think about themselves… But I guess my feelings for you are inherently selfish, because I like the way you make me feel… I don’t want to lose you…”

And with that, the demon went silent, his words hanging heavily over Dipper.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, that's another chapter done. I'm gonna work on the next chapter to Lovesick before I start the next chapter to this one, mostly because there's something I want to know from you readers:
> 
> So, originally, I was going to include Dungeons, Dungeons, and More Dungeons, and I still might. The thing is, with the way the episode goes, in order to have more things happening in the chapter, I would have to change somethings. So here's what I want to know: Instead of having Dipper and Ford be shrunking down and have Mabel and Stan use them as characters to play against Probabilitor like in the episode, what if I had Dipper, Mabel, Bill, Ford and Stan all transported into a DDMD dimension and act out a campaign against Probabilitor, complete with characters that they play as and an adventure leading up to the fight with Probabilitor?
> 
> Now, I have never actually played DnD, which means I'd have to rely on what I know from pop culture and what I can find out from the internet, so I'd probably get a lot of things wrong. If people aren't interested in that, I might just skip that whole episode. Also, the Stanchurian Candidate will be skipped, but the ending where Gideon tries to make another deal with Bill will still be included in another chapter.


	15. Your Pine Tree Is In Another Castle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mabel finds a strange book to give to her brother as a present, only it turns out that the book might be slightly cursed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay! Finally! New chapter! Oh, I started out loving to write this chapter, and then I just began to hate writing it. Then, towards the end, I began to love it again:3

Gideon didn’t want to admit it, but his plan had failed; somehow the Pines Twins had once again foiled his plot, this time preventing him from escaping jail. No matter; he had a final trick in his sleeve.

Gideon tore down the cat poster on the wall of his prison, revealing a drawing of the Cipher Wheel, only missing the pupil in the triangular demon’s eye.

Gideon drew in the pupil with a piece of chalk. “I'm finally ready to make a deal,” he said. The symbol started to glow a golden color before the light transformed into a swirling vortex. Gideon reached forward, expecting it to be an escape portal, but before he could touch it, the vortex spat out a piece of yellow paper before vanishing completely.

Gideon picked up the piece of the paper, realizing that it had something written on it:

“We’re sorry, but your call can’t come through on account that the caller is a deal-breaking munchkin.  
Please, do not try again, and enjoy your time rotting away in prison.”

 

It had only been a couple days after Stan had been elected, and subsequently disqualified due to his criminal record, and Bill and the twins had arranged for another sleepover. It had been Mabel’s idea, since she and her brother didn’t have much time left in Gravity Falls. In fact, they were leaving in a couple of weeks, right after their sixteenth birthday.

The thought made Mabel sad; she was so much happier in Gravity Falls than she ever was back home. She didn’t have any friends in California, no one to greet her once she came home, and Dipper… Well, if Gravity Falls had done wonders to her, it had done miracles to Dipper; her brother used to be so shy and shut off, ignoring the world around him, spending all his time alone in his room. Now he was running around, solving mysteries, defeating monster, he had even gotten some more friends and developed an actual social life, and Mabel didn’t want all that to disappear once they returned to California.

Mabel was walking through the town, going to the bookstore; Dipper had been talking about a new book coming out that day, and she wanted to see if the store had gotten it so she could give it to her brother as a birthday present.

When she entered, she walked up to the cashier behind the counter.

“Excuse me,” Mabel smiled at the elderly woman cheerfully. “I wanted to know if you had the newest book in the series ‘Sibling Brothers’? You see, my brother’s a big fan of the series, and I wanted to get it to him for his birthday!”

“Sorry, dearie,” the woman responded. “I’ll need to order that one, which can take a week at the most.”

“That’s alright!” Mabel assured her. “I’ll come back next week and check in.”

“While you’re here, why don’t you take a look around?” the woman suggested. “Maybe you’ll find something you like?”

“No thanks,” Mabel turned to leave. “The only things I read, are teen magazines!”

As Mabel stepped out, she spotted what looked like a street vendor, selling books across the streets.

“Hello,” Mabel greeted the street vendor, a middle-aged woman wearing a dark blue robe. “This might not be the best place to sell books. I mean, the bookstore is right across the street.”

“Ah, but these books are all one of a kind,” the vendor responded. “You wouldn’t happen be looking for something for a special boy, my young maiden?”

“My name is Mabel,” she giggled at the odd vendor. “And yeah, my brother! The bookstore didn’t have the birthday gift I wanted to get him, but then cashier said they’ll have it by next week.”

“Your brother?” the vendor tilted her head. “Oh, my apologies; I thought a pretty young girl, such as yourself, would be in a relationship.”

“Oh, don’t go there, sister,” Mabel groaned. “I’ve been trying to have a summer romance since I got here, and every time it turned out horrible! Meanwhile, my brother actually got himself a special someone.”

“Really?” the vendor sounded intrigued. “And I assume your brother likes books?”

“He loves to read!”

“I think I might have something he’ll like,” the vendor reached down under her stand and pulled out a thick book with a red leather cover, the title written in shiny golden lettering: “The Curse of the Dragon King”. Mabel accepted the book as the vendor gave it to her.

“Thanks,” Mabel said as she looked at the cover which, aside from the lettering, depicted a great, red and black dragon flying through the air. “How much?”

“Oh, it’s on the house,” the vendor assured her. “Consider it a... congratulations-gift to your brother and his ‘special someone’.”

“Wow! Thanks again!” Mabel waved goodbye to the vendor as she began to walk back to the Mystery Shack with the book in her hands.

 

It was already getting close to evening and Mabel still hadn’t returned from her trip into town. Dipper was waiting for her in the twins’ room, along with Bill.

“Don’t worry, Pine Tree,” Bill grabbed Dipper from behind, the two of them were sitting on Dipper’s bed. “Shooting Star decided to walk into town; of course it’s gonna be a while before she’s back. And while she’s gone, and we have the room to ourselves…” Bill trailed off suggestively.

“Seriously, Bill?” Dipper pried the demon’s arms off of him. “Do you want someone to walk in on us?”

“Well, we could always take it to the Mindscape,” Bill suggested. “Try some new things… You know, those elf ears you had, when we were transported into that board game, made you look really cute~” Bill began stroking Dipper’s ears.

“Bill, no,” Dipper moved away from the demon. “I’m not in the mood, okay?”

“Alright, Pine Tree,” Bill threw himself down into Dipper’s bed. “But now I have nothing to do!”

Right as the demon said that, the door was slammed open and an excited Mabel bounced in through the door.

“Dipper, guess what!?!” Mabel screeched in a cheerful tone.

“There you are, Mabel; we were starting to get worried about you,” Dipper gave a small sigh of relief.

“Did you get the snacks I like?” Bill asked, pointing at the grocery bag Mabel was carrying.

“Sure,” Mabel pulled out a bag of Doritos and threw them to the demon who quickly opened the bag and started eating them.

“It’s kinda weird how much you like those,” Dipper remarked.

“Triangular food is always better than other shapes of food,” Bill responded, his mouth filled with chips.

“Could you swallow first?” Dipper inquired.

Bill did swallow the chips, afterwards getting a mischievous grin on his face. “If I recall correctly, you’re the one who has the most trouble swallowing, Pine Tree~”

“Not in the front of my sister!” Dipper screeched while Mabel laughed hysterically. “Anyway, if I find any Doritos in my bed, you’re sleeping on the couch.”

“Well, I hope you won’t mind having one Dorito in bed with you~” Bill wriggled his eyebrows at Dipper.

“Okay, back on track!” Mabel reached back down in the bag, pulling out a red book, and gave it to Dipper. “I found this book for you! Thought you might like it.”

“Thanks,” Dipper took the book from his sister. “It looks like a fantasy book, or a fairy tale…”

“Looks interesting,” Bill noted. “What’s it about?”

Dipper turned the book around to read the synopsis on the back, but there was nothing, not even the usual reviews; the back of the book was completely blank.

“It doesn’t say anything,” Dipper remarked.

“Maybe there’s a synopsis inside the book?” Mabel suggested.

Dipper opened the book, only getting a glimpse of blank, white pages, before the book began glowing and the pages started to turn wildly. In a panic, Dipper dropped the book onto the floor.

The pages continued to turn, like a strong wind was blowing them. A pillar of light shot up from the book, expanding until a figure stepped out from it.

“That’s the lady that sold me the book!” Mabel gasped, pointing at the woman. The vendor gave a malicious smile.

“Right you are, my dear,” she responded. “Now, where is-“ the woman paused and looked back and forth at the other three people in the room. “Has… hasn’t your brother’s lover arrived yet?”

“If you’re looking for Pine Tree’s lover,” Bill rose from the bed and stepped in between the woman and Dipper. “That would be me.”

“Wait, so…” the woman seemed confused. “You’re both male…? I’m… gonna be honest; this has never happened before, I’m not entirely sure what to do.”

“Well, you could start by explaining why you just stepped out of a book,” Dipper suggested as he poked his head out from behind his boyfriend.

“Fair enough,” the woman shrugged. “My name is Clair. I am here to invoke the Curse of the Dragon King.”

“Look, lady, you can have your book back if you want,” Bill snarled. “Just get out of here, before I force you to leave.”

“The book?” Clair tilted her head before breaking into a mocking laugh. “The book is the bringer of the curse! If a virgin who is in a relationship opens the book, I arrive to spirit away either them or their lover, and bring them to my king.”

“Like hell you will!” Bill shouted and enveloped his hand in blue fire.

“Worry not,” Clair said calmly. “You will receive a chance to rescue your love,” she raised her arms to the side and a glaring, red light engulfed her, Dipper, and Bill. The bright light forced Mabel to close her eyes, but when she opened it, everyone else was gone; only the book remained behind.

 

Bill opened his eyes and found himself lying down in an open field at night. When he rose from the ground he spotted a white see-through image of Clair.

“Where is Pine Tree?” Bill snarled at her.

“Do not worry about him,” Clair smirked. “He is safe within the castle.”

“You’re gonna regret the day you ever met me-“ Bill shot a ball of magic fire at her, but the shot went through her, scorching a piece of the field and leaving behind a smoking burn mark.

“This is an astral projection,” Clair explained. “I am not so dumb that I would be near an angry demon. Still, I must admit I’m intrigued… However did a human manage to seduce a demon?”

“You’re not the first one to ask me that,” Bill responded deadpanned. “And Pine Tree didn’t seduce me; it was the other way around.”

“Then I suppose the question is, why do you care about him so much?”

“I don’t have to tell you anything.”

“Hmm, true,” Clair shrugged. “Then, let me explain how you can rescue your kidnapped maiden. You have until sunrise to locate the castle and save your love, for once the first rays of sunlight touches this world, my king shall wed him, and he will be transformed-“

“I literally couldn’t care less,” Bill rolled his eyes. “I have a Pine Tree to rescue, and a delusional witch along with a flying lizard to destroy.”

“Hmph!” Clair huffed. “Very well! Good luck figuring out which way to go!” and with that, the astral projection disappeared.

“That’s the easy part,” Bill scoffed and placed his hands on the ground. “I don’t think a cursed medieval world has any Eyes of Providence,” Bill mumbled to himself. “So I’m gonna need to use a slower method of locating Pine Tree…” On the ground, a light blue trail appeared from Bill’s hands leading towards a nearby forest. “Don’t worry, Pine Tree; I’m on my way,” Bill said to himself as he began to follow the blue trail.

 

Dipper awoke lying on a soft bed inside a room that seemed right out of a fantasy rpg.

“Urgh, not again,” Dipper groaned.

“’Not again’ what?” Dipper jumped slightly in shock before he saw that woman, Clair, standing beside his bed.

“Look, this isn’t exactly the first time a supernatural entity has kidnapped me,” Dipper explained deadpanned. “Could we move on with this? I wanna get to the part where Bill saves me, so I can get back home.”

“And what makes you think your lover will rescue you?” Clair asked with a smirk.

“Because that’s what always happens,” Dipper pointed out. “And besides, no matter how many people you’ve kidnapped, they all got rescued, right? Otherwise you wouldn’t need to kidnap anymore people, meaning that you must suck pretty hard at this.”

“Oh no, that’s not true,” Clair giggled. “Sure, a couple maidens were saved, but most weren’t. They just didn’t survive that long.”

“… What?” Dipper asked carefully.

“Allow me to explain; a marriage is a union between two souls, it connects the souls if you will. When my king’s soul is connected to a human’s soul in that way, it carries the curse to the human too.”

“What do you mean?” Dipper’s eyes widened in fear.

“I mean, that the human goes through the process of transforming into a dragon, which is a process few humans are able to survive. But don’t worry; I have a good feeling about you.”

“That’s not a comforting thought!” Dipper leapt out of the bed. “I’m getting out of here!”

“No you don’t!” Dipper tried to walk out the nearest door, but found a force blocking the way. “Now, we are going to get you dressed and present you to the king,” Clair grabbed Dipper’s arm. “If he decides you’re good enough, we will begin preparing the wedding, which will take place by sunrise, to mark the dawning of a new and glorious era! But if the king doesn’t like you, he’ll just eat you then and there.”

 

As Bill trekked through the overgrown forest, the magic trail was the only source of light; the sky was hardly visible through the trees’ leaves. Bill found the lack of animal life somewhat; a forest, even at night, would normally be filled with sounds from birds, mammals and insects, but there was nothing. As Bill continued to move forward, he began to regret that thought as he suddenly heard multiple growls from up ahead, and he spotted a group of what looked like dogs bred specifically for killing; a broader body, powerful jaws, no tails.

“Alright, doggies,” Bill readied his fire. “We can do this the easy way or the hard way.”

At first the dogs seemed ready to attack, but after Bill fired a single fireball, the dogs started whining and running away.

“Pathetic,” Bill remarked and continued to follow the trail. “Although, had I been a human, those dogs would’ve torn me to shreds…”

 

Despite any inner objections Dipper held, he had allowed Clair to dress him in a big, red ball gown; getting eaten by a dragon wasn’t very high on Dipper’s bucket list, so he’d do what was necessary to stay alive until Bill rescued him.

Dipper was led by the arm, by Clair, down a brightly lit hallway into a giant, mostly empty, throne room; the throne room’s floor and walls seemed newly polished, there was an assortment of burning torches and tapestries, but the main focus was a big, golden throne, upon which a giant, red dragon with black horns lied.

“Your majesty,” Clair did a small courtesy.

“What is this?” the dragon asked, his voice loud and booming.

“I found a new suitor for you,” Clair began to explain, but was cut off by the king roaring:

“ARE YOU ATTEMPTING TO PULL WOOL OVER MY EYES!?!”

“Whatever do you mean, my king?” Clair inquired nervously.

“I can tell the difference between a male and a female!” the dragon growled.

“Oh, yes, the thing is, we encountered something we had never seen before; the couple that was cursed were both male, but I think this might have been what we were looking for!”

“What makes you say that?” the dragon king rose from his throne and walked towards the two.

“This boy’s lover is a demon!” Clair explained excitedly. “There’s no doubt about; the dark magic practically radiates off of him! There must be something special about this boy if he managed to attract a demon.”

“I hope for your sake that you are right,” the dragon growled. “I am beginning to grow impatient. Perhaps what I truly need to do is kill you.”

“What?!” Clair squawked indignantly. “You need me! Without me, you have no one left to find you suitors in the real world!”

“I can always find another gifted in the dark arts! Don’t forget, this is your entire fault to begin with.”

“My fault!? It is not! We all did what we were forced to!”

“SILENCE!!!” the dragon roared. “Prepare my bride for the wedding!” and with that, he turned back to his throne, and Clair led Dipper out of the room.

“What was all that you were talking about?” Dipper asked curiously.

“Urgh, it’s how the curse first began,” Clair groaned.

“And how exactly did it do that?”

“Well, why do you think we’re inside a book?”

“Honestly, I’ve encountered stranger things; I didn’t even think about that,” Dipper admitted as they stepped back inside the bedroom he awoke in.

“Alright, well, centuries ago, a man wished to write his fiancée a fairy tale as a wedding gift,” Clair began to explain. “What he did not know was that the paper he used was made from wood from a dryad. The powerful magic mixed with the author’s imagination, caused an entire world to be created inside the book, based on what he wrote. Part of the story contained a curse, the same curse that hit you and your love. When the author’s fiancée wanted to read the book, before the author had written the ending, it activated the curse, and I spirited her away, leaving the author to try and rescue her, but he failed, and they both died. Now, we are without an ending, meaning we have to make one ourselves.”

“How are you going to make an ending?”

“How do you think? An ending needs to be big, it needs to bring finality. For example, if the king found someone who loved him despite his hideous appearance, and the two got married-“

“Then why don’t you try that?”

“But that’s what we are!”

“No you’re not! You’re kidnapping people who are already in love with someone else and kill them in horrible ways!”

“Well, if I don’t find a solution to the problem, my brother will kill me!”

“Wait, what?” Dipper shook his head in confusion. “Your brother?”

“Yes, Elric, the king,” Clair explained. “The author wanted to make me the villain, so I was the one who turned the king into a dragon! Elric has often suggested that since he’s the hero and I’m the villain, killing me might count as an ending too, but I’ve managed to convince him that we should use the curse instead, and find him a wife.”

“I would probably sympathize with you a little more if you, you know, hadn’t kidnapped and killed innocent people!”

“Bah! I don’t want your approval!” Clair scoffed. “I’m certain this time, it’ll work!” Clair walked back towards the door. “I’ll return to get you within the next couple of hours; be dressed in your wedding gown by then!”

Clair exited the door leaving Dipper behind.

“Oh, Bill,” Dipper groaned. “Please save me from these crazy people…”

 

The trail had led Bill out of the woods, through fields and farm houses, until finally, as he reached the top of a hill, he saw a castle in the distance, surrounded by a small village. He ran down the hill and into the village; despite the late hour, people were walking around, decorating the city streets with flowers and garlands.

“Hey,” Bill approached a young woman who was pulling weeds from her garden. “What’s going on here?”

“Oh, our king is holding another wedding,” the woman said dismissively. “They say this time it’ll be different, but me and my husband have long since lost hope that anything will change.”

“Hmm,” Bill made a noncommittal sound, snapped his fingers, and burned away the last weeds. “Go back inside and get some rest,” he told the now confused woman before continuing to walk towards the castle.

As he approached the castle, the trail began to shine brighter, indicating that Pine Tree was inside. Bill sped up his pace, beginning to run, excited to reunite with his Pine Tree. But as he reached the front gates of the castle, he ran into something and was knocked down on his back.

Bill rose from the ground and stretched out a hand; the demon could feel an invisible barrier beneath his hand. He spotted an elder man nearby, decorating a white archway with red roses, and ran over to him.

“Hey, you!” Bill called out to the old man. “Is there supposed to be an invisible wall around the castle, or does it only affect me?” if the barrier only affected Bill, either because he was a demon or because he was trying to rescue Pine Tree, he could maybe enlist the help of some townsfolk to save his human.

“Oh, yes,” the old man nodded and paused his work. “First Enchantress Clair created the barrier long ago. It only lowers when someone in the castle leaves or returns.”

“Then how am I supposed to get inside?!” Bill cried out in frustration.

“Why, you wouldn’t happen to be another one of those men trying to save their loves?”

“That is exactly what I am,” Bill responded; if the old man turned hostile, Bill wouldn’t hesitate to incapacitate him.

“Alright, listen, the wedding is gonna take place here, by this archway. You just run in, grab your girl, and then you run back through the forest to where you started your journey; there you will find a portal that can take the two of you home.”

“Why are you helping me?” Bill asked somewhat puzzled.

“Look, no one here likes this,” the man explained. “It’s the same thing every single time. We want an ending just as much as the king does, but he is clearly going about it the wrong way. Until he realizes that, I don’t want any more people to get killed.”

“Well, thanks,” Bill gave a small smile and used his magic to hang the rest of the flowers on the archway. “Also, I’m not gonna run away when I see that lizard; he and his little enchanter is going to pay.”

 

As Dipper looked out the window, he could see the first rays of sun in the horizon. Bill hadn’t shown up yet, and the human was starting to get worried. He heard the door open and turned around, expecting to see Bill rush through the door, but was instead met with Clair who was looking rather angry.

“Why are not dressed!?” she shouted.

“I’m not marrying that guy!” Dipper responded.

Clair gave out a silent scream of frustration before using her magic to change the color of Dipper’s dress from red to white, then proceeded to slap a wedding veil his head.

“There!” Clair began pushing Dipper out the door. “Now, move!”

Dipper wanted to believe that Bill was right around the corner, that the demon would jump in at any moment and take him away, but as Clair forced him to walk towards a white archway where the Dragon King, as well as a priest, were standing, he was starting to feel that maybe the demon wouldn’t be rescuing him this time.

Alright then; Dipper had gotten himself out of worse situations, he could handle this. As he stood beside Elric, the priest holding the usual speech about marriage and union, Dipper looked around, planning an escape route; he decided to flee once the priest asked Elric if he would wed Dipper, since most people’s attention would be on the dragon at that point.

“If anyone is against this union,” the priest said. “Speak now, or forever hold your silence-“

A great flash appeared behind Dipper and the king, interrupting the priest.

“I’m against this wedding!” Bill grinned as he teleported in.

“What took you so long?” Dipper complained to his boyfriend. “I was starting to think I had to get out of this myself.”

“Of course not, Pine Tree, I’ll always be your knight in shining armor~” Bill winked at Dipper, as well as he could with only one eye, swooped in and picked Dipper up. The nearby guards began readying their weapons, but summoned up some magic and threw it to the ground, resulting in a dusty explosion that distracted the guards and made the villagers run away in a panic. Bill took this opportunity to run off with Dipper.

“Do you know where we’re going?” Dipper asked the demon, who was still carrying him.

“According to one of the townspeople, a portal has opened that can take us home,” Bill explained. “But I have something I need to do first,” Bill looked over his shoulder, and as he had suspected, the dragon, Clair, and even a couple of guards were pursuing them. Bill sat Dipper down. “Alright, stay back, Pine Tree; this is gonna get intense.”

Before Dipper had a chance to reply, Bill ran towards their pursuers, throwing another ball of magic to the ground. This one created a temporary flash which blinded everyone, except for the demon. Bill ran over to one of the guards and stole their sword, pushing the guard to the ground. He then proceeded to stab the sword, right through Clair’s abdomen, and into the ground. Dipper nearly screamed in shock at the sight.

“You feel that?” Bill asked the woman, who was crying out in pain. “That’s what happens when you try and take my Pine Tree away from me.” Clair started coughing up blood, until she finally bled out.

Bill left the sword and used another ball of magic, this one creating a powerful gust, which blew the guards far away, but left the dragon.

“You have disturbed my wedding,” Elric growled. “You have stolen my bride, and physically harmed my sister. Do you realize what this means? You’re the villain. If I defeat you, and reunite with my bride, I will finally have an ending.”

“I don’t care about your stupid ending!” Bill shouted. “And more importantly, YOU DON’T GET TO CALL PINE TREE YOURS!!!” Bill roared the last part and flew into a frenzy. Elric slashed his claws, stomped his feet and swiped with his tail, but Bill dodged every attack, moving around the big beast, until he reached behind the dragon and jumped up on his back.

Then Bill began slashing his nails down the dragon’s back, in a manner that somewhat reminded Dipper of a cat using a scratching post, only this display was fast and brutal; Bill’s swipe took out many of Elric’s scales and even big chunks meat and skin tissue.

“Bill!” Dipper called out to the demon. “Please stop!”

Bill either didn’t hear him, or he simply didn’t care, as he continued his attack by crawling up the dragon’s neck, grabbing one of the horns in Elric’s forehead and began to pull.

Elric roared and thrashed around in pain, but Bill continued to pull the horn until it gave out. Jumping down from the dragon, Bill pulled the sword out of Clair’s corpse and brought it closer to Elric. He held the sharp piece of metal over the dragon until he brought it down, chopping off the dragon’s head, and Dipper screamed.

Bill finally turned to Dipper, a bright smile on his face despite being covered in blood.

“One moment, Pine Tree,” Bill said, sounding rather chipper. The demon summoned a big jar, picked up a handful of scales, as well as the horn he pulled out, and put them in the jar. “Alright, let’s go home.”

Dipper didn’t respond, but he followed the demon anyway, since he didn’t know where the portal was located.

 

After entering the portal, the two were teleported home. The first thing Dipper noticed was that he was wearing his normal clothes again, and Bill was no longer covered in blood.

“Oh, thank god, you’re back!” Mabel ran over and hugged them with both of her arms. “I was so worried, and I didn’t know what to do! I didn’t know if I should get Grunkle Stan or Grunkle Ford or-“

“Don’t worry, Shooting Star,” Bill reassured her and teleported the jar filled with the dragon scales and horn away. “I took care of everything, right, Pine Tree?”

Bill looked expectantly at Dipper, as if he was either waiting for Dipper to swoon about how the demon saved him or make an assessment that he had saved himself.

Dipper didn’t respond, he just walked out through the door and towards the stairs.

“Pine Tree?” Bill called after him and began to follow. “What’s wrong?”

“’What’s wrong’?” Dipper threw a glare over his shoulder at the demon. “You just killed two people in front of me! How can you even ask me that?!”

“I saved you,” Bill argued. “I saved your life, again!”

“You didn’t need to kill them to save me!” Dipper paused on the stairs and turned around to face the demon. “You could’ve incapacitated them using your magic, and we could’ve escaped. You didn’t do this to protect me!”

“They were murderers, Pine Tree!” Bill protested. “They had already killed who knows how many people, and they were gonna continue to do so whether we escaped or not!”

“We could’ve found another way!” Dipper began walking down the stairs again, but Bill teleported right in front of him to block his way.

“Pine Tree-“

“What the heck!?!” Bill was interrupted by a shout from behind him. The demon looked over his shoulder and saw Ford. “… Did you just teleport?”

“What!” Bill exclaimed nervously. “Don’t be stupid! Of course not! Oh, Sixer, you might need new glasses-“ Bill stopped midsentence, realizing his slip up too late.

“I knew it,” Ford said. He ran over to Bill and grabbed him by the sleeve, dragging him to the front door and throwing him out. “Stay away from my house! If I ever see you again, you’re gonna wish you’d stayed in your old dimension!” After yelling that, Ford slammed the door shut and locked it. “… For how long did you know?” Ford asked Dipper, his voice barely a whisper.

“What?” Dipper tilted his head in confusion.

“You must have known,” Ford responded and walked over to Dipper. “Otherwise Bill wouldn’t have teleported in front of you. For how long did you know?”

“… From the start,” Dipper lowered his head, unable to meet the author’s gaze. “I… I’m the one who helped him escape.”

“What? How?” Ford questioned. “He needed the portal to escape his dimension.”

“Apparently, I have a lot of magical potential. Bill said he would unlock it, if I used it to free him from his dimension. At the time, I didn’t know he would end up here.”

“You read my journals,” Ford pointed out. “I wrote how dangerous Bill is!”

“I know, but he said if I didn’t help him, he would just find someone else… Someone who might have a vendetta against me or my family…”

“And you believed him?”

“To be fair, the one who summoned him originally, did so trying to exact vengeance on Grunkle Stan. But, look, I know you and Bill share a history, but he’s not all that bad!”

“I just heard you yelling at him for killing someone!”

“Yeah, but like Bill said, they were murderers, and technically, they were just sentient characters from a magic book… Point is, yes I was mad at him, but I would’ve forgiven him!”

“Dipper,” Ford took a deep breath and placed his hands on Dipper’s shoulders. “Bill is dangerous; he’s a maniacal, destructive demon, and he has been planning something catastrophic.”

“You know what his plan is?”

“He told you about it?” Ford seemed surprised.

“No, but I know he’s been planning something! Do you know what it is?”

“I have a very good hunch,” Ford replied.

“Grunkle Ford?” Mabel was standing at the top of the stairs. “What’s going on?”

“Mabel, did you know that Bill was a demon?” Ford removed his hands from Dipper’s shoulders and walked past him over to Mabel.

“I… don’t think I’m allowed to answer that,” Mabel scratched the back of her head nervously.

“It’s alright, Mabel,” Dipper told her. “He knows.”

“Then, yes!” Mabel responded cheerfully. “Also, Soos, Wendy, Grunkle Stan, Waddles, Candy, Grenda and Gompers know!”

“Stan knew!?!” Ford exclaimed in shock.

“Yeah, he found out about it a while back,” Mabel nodded. “Anyway, does this mean that you and Bill are gonna be friends again?”

“No,” Ford said. “It means that we’re gonna have to secure the shack against Bill and his magic, first thing in the morning.”

“What!?!” Mabel yelled. “Dipper, what’s going on?”

“Don’t worry, Mabel, I’ll tell you,” Dipper told his sister as he led her back to their bedroom.

 

Once they got back and ready for bed, Dipper explained to Mabel what Ford had told him.

“So, Ford thinks Bill has something sinister planned?” Mabel questioned her brother as she lied down in her bed.

“Well, he has known Bill longer than we have,” Dipper shrugged, also in bed.

“But he knew him a really long time ago,” Mabel pointed out. “Bill might’ve changed since then.”

“Mabel, he’s more than a billion years old; thirty years is basically nothing to him.”

“Do you really think Bill might be up to something evil?”

“… I don’t know, Mabel,” Dipper simply said. “I mean, he has been working on this project that he won’t tell us about.”

“But so did Stan! And his project turned out to be a machine to save his brother!”

“I don’t know, Mabel, okay!” Dipper shouted in frustration. “I want to believe that Bill wouldn’t do that! I really do, but I just…”

“You don’t have all the facts yet. Maybe you should talk to Bill about it first?”

“… Maybe…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh, the plot thickens! Hope you liked it:3 The next chapter is going to be "The Last Mabelcorn", only since it won't be focusing on Mabel, it will be called something else, and I won't tell you what. Not because I don't have a title yet, but because I want you to experience the ridiculousness of the title when you see itX3


	16. He's Not Your Boyfriend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ford tells Dipper more about his past history with Bill, and the Pines Family find a way to protect the shack against the demon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, already a new chapter? Well, it makes sense since this is a really short one. Oh well, hopefully the angsty feels will be enoughX3

It was the day after Ford had discovered Bill’s identity. He, Dipper and Mabel were sitting in the living room.

“Alright, here’s what we’re going to do,” Ford paused as he realized his brother was absent. “Where’s Stan?”

“He’s outside doing pug-trafficking,” Mabel answered.

“My brother’s doing drug-trafficking?” Ford asked.

“No, pug-trafficking,” Mabel corrected. “He’s smuggling pugs across the border.”

“Well, he’s done worse things,” Ford shrugged. “Anyways, we need to protect the shack against Bill.”

“Why?” Mabel tilted her head.

“Because he’s going to bring about the end of the world!”

“But he’s really nice, Grunkle Ford,” Mabel argued. “And he works here.”

“Not anymore,” Ford said. “Bill’s planning something, and he’s gonna use every dirty trick in his arsenal to see it through. Fortunately, I know a spell that should be able to create a shield to protect the entire shack, and anyone inside it, against Bill and his magic. The only problem is I’m all out of unicorn hair,” Ford groaned at the last part.

“That’s not, like, rare, is it?” Dipper asked.

“It’s hopeless,” Ford explained. “Unicorns reside deep within an enchanted glade, and their hairs can only be obtained by a pure good-hearted person who goes on a magical quest to find them.”

Hearing that, Mabel screamed. “Grunkle Ford, can I please go on this quest?! I am literally obsessed with unicorns! My first word was "unicorn," I once made my own unicorn by taping a traffic cone to a horse's head, are you even looking at the sweater I'm wearing right now?!” Mabel pointed to the unicorn sweater, before calming slightly down and continuing. “Not to mention that I'm probably the most pure of heart person in this room.”

“That's true, she has a point,” Ford nodded.

“I can't argue there,” Dipper shrugged.

“So can I go on a mission to get that hair?” Mabel asked. “Please, please, please? I'LL GIVE YOU MY BLOOD!!!”

“Very well” Ford said. “But it won’t be easy. Take this,” he handed her Journal 1, “And this,” he then handed her a crossbow.

“Oooh,” Mabel remarked.

“I haven't been in this dimension for a while,” Ford noted. “It’s okay to give teenagers weapons, right?”

“Pssh! Come on, dawg,” Mabel scoffed, but accidently fired the crossbow through the window, setting off a car alarm.

“AH!!!” they could hear Stan yell from outside. “IT’S THE COPS!!! GUN IT!!!” proceeded by the sound of a car driving away.

Mabel ignored it and walked towards the front door, while calling up her friends on her phone.

“So, what are the odds she gets the hair?” Dipper asked Ford.

“Unlikely,” Ford gave a heavy sigh. “I've dealt with unicorns before, and if I had to describe them in one word it would be… frustrating.”

“So what are we gonna do about Bill?”

“Follow me.”

 

Ford led Dipper through the secret elevator behind the vending machine. This time, instead of exiting on the floor where the lab was, they exited on the second floor.

“Welcome to my private study, a place where I keep my most ancient and secret knowledge,” Ford explained as he led Dipper through the study. “Not even Stan knows about this place.”

Dipper noticed that much of the study was covered by old, dusty sheets. He reached a hand out to uncover one, but was cut off by Ford:

“Dipper, come along!” Ford led Dipper over to a big machine that looked somewhat like a giant, ancient computer, with a helmet connected to it through thick wires. “If we can't Bill-proof the Shack, we're going to have to do the next best thing; we're gonna have to Bill-proof our minds.”

“You still haven’t told me what Bill is after,” Dipper pointed out.

Ford sighed. “You’re right,” he stuck his hand into his pocket and pulled out a snow globe, only instead of plastic snow, glitter and water, inside it was what looked like a spacial rift.

“Grunkle Ford, what is that?” Dipper asked carefully.

“After Stan used the portal to bring me back, I dismantled the machine,” Ford explained. “But it seemed like activating the portal did more damage than we originally thought; this is a rift between time and space; think of it as a small piece of another dimension inside our own. I trapped it inside this containment globe to prevent it from expanding. If the globe breaks and the rift is released, it will do what the portal did; create a link between our dimension and Bill’s, which will inevitably lead to the end of the world.”

“But Grunkle Ford, Bill has already escaped his own dimension,” Dipper pointed out. “Why would he even need the rift?”

“His powers are severely weakened due to the laws of our universe, but if he linked his dimension to ours, he would gain the same powers he wields in the dreamscape. If he gained his powers back, our universe would become his personal plaything, he would be able to do whatever he wants to, and I think he’s more than willing to risk the destruction of our world, if it makes him a godlike entity.”

“It’s just…” Dipper sighed. “I’ve been hanging out with Bill all this time; are you seriously telling me all that was just a trick?”

“Probably to gain your trust,” Ford placed the interdimensional rift back into his pocket. “You must promise me not to tell anyone about the rift, not even your sister.”

“Why? Why can’t I tell Mabel? Doesn’t she deserve to know?”

“It’s not about that,” Ford shook his head. “Your sister is very trusting, she sees the good in everyone. And while that, under normal circumstances, is a great thing, in this case, it could easily turn out bad. Imagine if Bill asked her to bring him the rift, telling her that he’ll keep it safe or that he’ll make it disappear, using his past experiences with her to convince her that she can trust him. What do you think your sister would do?”

“I guess you have a point. But how do we keep Bill out of our minds?” Dipper sat down on a nearby chair, while Ford placed the helmet on the boy’s head.

“Well, there's a number of ways. I personally had a metal plate installed in my head.”

“Hehe, good one,” Dipper laughed.

Ford responded by knocking on the side of his head, creating a loud metal banging sound. Dipper cleared his throat awkwardly.

“But this machine is safer,” Ford explained. “It will scan your mind, bioelectrically encrypting your thoughts so that Bill can't read them,” he turned the machine on. “Now say hello to your thoughts.”

The screen lit up and a number of sentences appeared on the screen, including: ‘Oh, man, I can't believe I'm with the author’, ‘Is my fly down?’, ‘I could rob a bank’, and the last being ‘Bill, Bill, Bill’.

“You might wanna… ignore the last one,” Dipper suggested, his cheeks flaring up. “By the way, you never told me what your history with Bill was.”

“Dipper, do you trust me?”

“Well, yeah, but-“

“Then you'll trust that that's not important. Now, focus. It's time to strengthen your mind.”

 

Dipper had no idea how much time had passed since the machine started encrypting his thoughts, but it had been long enough for Ford to fall asleep.

“Ugh, this is taking forever,” Dipper groaned. “How long have I been doing this?” Dipper looked over at Ford and then at the sheets. “Why does he have to be so mysterious about Bill? And what’s he hiding under those sheets?” Dipper rose from the chair and walked past Ford over to the sheets. He removed one of them revealing a golden statue of Bill in his demon form. “What? Why would Ford have that?”

A bright flash appeared behind him, and when he turned around, he saw Bill had teleported in. The demon had a big smile on his face and held his hands behind his back.

“I was looking for you, Pine Tree,” Bill whispered. Dipper opened his mouth to wake up Ford, but Bill quickly placed a hand over Dipper’s mouth and hushed him. “We don’t want him to know I’m here. Imagine my surprise when a window I hadn’t used in decades, suddenly opened up again, and I see just the human I was looking for.”

Dipper carefully removed Bill’s hand from his mouth. “What are doing here, Bill?”

“Right,” the demon removed his other hand from behind his back and thrust something into Dipper’s chest. After a split-second of panic, Dipper realized it was a bouquet.

“Bill, why are you giving me flowers?” Dipper asked.

“To apologize, of course,” Bill said in a very matter-of-fact manner. “I couldn’t decide which were most fitting, so I got you jonquils, freesias, purple hyacinths, anemones, pink camellias, white chrysanthemum, and daffodils. Oh, and I paid for them using human money instead of gold.”

“Bill, you need to get out of here.”

“Yeah, but I needed to apologize first; while I still think I was justified killing those people, I am sorry that my actions hurt you, and if I had known I most likely wouldn’t have done it.”

“Bill, Grunkle Ford doesn’t want you in the shack anymore.”

“Don’t worry, Pine Tree, we’ll just meet in secret instead; we can still make this work.”

Dipper looked at the flowers Bill had gotten him; he was tempted to accept Bill’s apology and just carry on like none of this great, big mess had happened, but maybe Ford was right, maybe Bill was just manipulating him. Dipper sighed and walked past Bill back towards the machine.

“Wait, what’s that-“ Bill almost asked but stopped himself as realization apparently settled in. Bill’s face suddenly morphed into one of pure fury as he summoned a ball of magic and hurtled it past Dipper and into the machine’s screen. A great explosion happened as Dipper screamed.

“Whah?” Ford exclaimed as he was rudely awoken by the explosion. He spotted Bill right before the demon teleported away. “What happened?” Ford asked Dipper. “Did he get the rift?” Ford began searching his pockets and gave a sigh of relief when he found the rift where he left it. Ford saw the statute of Bill and hurried over and placed the sheet back over it. “Why did you do that, Dipper? You just brought us all in the danger!”

“I’m… I’m sorry, Grunkle Ford, I didn’t know!” Dipper insisted.

“Did he hurt you? Are you alright?” Ford asked and gave Dipper a quick look over.

“No, I’m fine,” Dipper said.

“What are those?” Ford pointed at the bouquet in Dipper’s hands.

“Bill gave them to me,” Dipper explained. “Said he wanted to apologize and carry out our relationship in secret.”

“What did you tell him?”

“I told him that you didn’t want him in the shack anymore.”

“Dipper,” Ford sighed. “You need to be firm with Bill, or he won’t listen.”

“How would you know?”

“Dipper, the reason I've been trying to prepare you for Bill's tricks is that Bill tricked me. It's the biggest regret of my life. Bill wasn't always my enemy, Dipper. I used to think he was my friend, maybe even more than that. Long, long ago, I had hit a road block in my investigation of Gravity Falls. Until I found some mysterious writing in a cave. Ancient incantations about a being with answers. It warned me not to read them, but I was desperate. I read the inscription aloud. But nothing happened. Until later than afternoon, when I had the most peculiar dream… I encountered Bill and we stroke up a conversation. He told me he was a muse. That he chose one brilliant mind a century to inspire. What a fool I was. Blinded by his flattery and games. He became my research assistant. He was free to move in and out of my mind as he pleased. When he told me I could complete my research by building a gateway to other worlds, I trusted him. He said this was the way genius happened; with a little help from a friend. He was the one who told me not to tell Stan; that my brother wouldn’t understand the power of the portal. But when I tested the it, well, you know what happened. I still don’t know what Fiddleford saw inside the portal, but it seemed to be linked to an ancient prophecy foretelling the end of the world. I confronted Bill about…”

 

Ford was angry and confused, feelings of betrayal welling up inside him. He managed to track Bill down in the Mindscape to demand answers.

“Bill! You lied to me!” Ford yelled at him. “Where does that portal really lead?”

“Well, I lied about being a muse,” Bill shrugged and started cackling. “I still can’t believe you actually fell for that, I mean, you’re supposed to be smart, right?”

“What’s the true purpose of the portal?” Ford demanded.

“Like I told you; to better mankind. Humanity’s gonna get the best thing ever; me!”

“You’re risking the planet’s destruction, for what? Because you’re bored of your own dimension?”

“Bored!?!” Bill looked legitimately insulted. “You’re talking about one planet out of billions getting destroyed, that’s nothing! My entire dimension is rotting up as we’re speaking! Soon, there won’t be anything left, and I’m not gonna be around when that happen! You’re gonna finish that portal so I can escape, just like you promised!”

“No! I’ll stop you! I’LL SHUT IT DOWN!!!”

“A deal’s a deal, Sixer! Before you know it, I’ll be living in your dimension; you can’t stop my escape, but it would be fun to watch you try! Cute even!”

 

“And that’s what happened,” Ford finished his story. “I thought I could trust Bill…”

“Grunkle Ford…” Dipper gave his Grunkle a sympathetic look.

“Come, Dipper; there’s no reason for us to stay down here.”

 

“I just can’t believe it,” Dipper sighed heavily. He and Ford had retreated to the living room where they were drinking some cans of pitt cola. “I feel like such an idiot for having believed Bill.”

“From now on, no more secrets between us,” Ford told Dipper. “We're not the first two idiots to be tricked by Bill, boy. But if we work together, we could be the last.”

“About that, Grunkle Ford,” Dipper began carefully. “Were you and Bill in… a relationship?”

Ford blushed and averted his eyes from his nephew. Dipper was just about to ask further when he was interrupted by a stack of rainbow-colored hair getting slammed on the table

“Did someone say "unicorn hair"?!” Mabel squealed. She, Candy, Grenda, and Wendy were all covered in a thick, rainbow-colored liquid and looked like they had been in a big fight.

“Uh, no, actually,” Dipper corrected his sister.

“Oh. That would have been perfect. Either way we got some unicorn hair!” Mabel began waving the hair in her brother’s face.

“Also some unicorn blood, unicorn eyelashes…” Candy continued.

“They finally gave us this treasure just to get rid of us!” Grenda yelled and dumped a huge treasure chest, filled with gold coins and jewels, on the table.

“It… can’t be!” Ford gasped in amazement. “This is a great day, girls! With this unicorn hair, we should be able to completely shield the shack from Bill's mind-reading tricks!”

“Is it okay?” Mabel asked.

“Better than okay; it's perfect!” Ford told her. “You've protected your family. You're a good person, Mabel.”

“Thanks, Grunkle Ford, but today I learned that morality is relative,” Mabel smiled.

The sweet moment was interrupted, however, when Stan ran by picked up as much of the treasure he could carry and ran out while shouting: “MONEY!!!”

 

Early the next morning, Dipper was helping Ford finished up the last of the protection spell.

“Perfect!” Ford said as he glued the last piece of unicorn hair to the shack. “This will protect us from Bill! As long as we're inside, our minds are safe.”

“Great,” Dipper replied, sounding slightly forlorn.

“… Do you need to talk about it?” Ford asked, a worried look on his face.

“No,” Dipper shook his head. “I just need to be a bit alone.”

“Alright,” Ford walked towards the front door. “I’ll be inside if you need me,” he added before he left.

Dipper sat down on the ground, pressed his legs close to his torso, and rested his head on his knees. He still felt so foolish for having ever believed Bill; of course an all-powerful demon wouldn’t fall for an awkward teenager! He should have trusted his gut and never trusted that demon to begin with.

“Hey, Pine Tree!” Dipper looked up and saw Bill walking towards the shack. “I saw old Fordsy leave and thought we could spend some time together now.”

Dipper took a deep breath and rose from the ground.

“Bill, it’s over,” Dipper said, trying his best to keep his voice steady.

“Wha- What are you saying, Pine Tree?” Bill got a confused look on his voice, but he was still smiling.

The demon continued to walk towards Dipper, and even though Dipper knew he was well within in the barrier that now protected the shack, he still took a couple of steps back away from Bill.

“You heard me, Bill,” Dipper was getting choked up, but he had to stay firm. “I’m not your boyfriend anymore.”

“… Why?” Bill’s smile faded and stopped dead in his track, looking utterly lost.

“I’m not gonna be manipulated by you any longer!” Dipper shouted, tears beginning to fill his eyes.

“No…” Bill whispered, his voice so quiet that Dipper almost couldn’t hear it. “NO!!!” Bill roared and lunged forward only to get hit by the barrier. “What…?” Bill seemed puzzled at first. He gave the barrier a couple of hits before realizing what it was. “… Pine Tree?”

“I’m sorry, Bill,” Dipper said and dried his eyes before walking to the front door. “I really am,” and with that, Dipper walked back into the shack.

“Pine Tree?” Bill gasped, before he began hitting on the barrier with all his might, punching and kicking it, even smashing his own head against it. “PINE TREE!!! PINE TREE!!! PIIIIIINE TREEEEEEEE!!!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This might be the angstiest thing I've ever written, and there's gonna be a lot more angst to come. But don't worry! I promise there'll be a happy ending:3
> 
> Next chapter will be Roadside Attraction! I won't be able to start writing until next week, because I'm going to visit my mother for her birthday, but my closest estimate for next chapter is early april.
> 
> Please leave a comment (but only if you want to)! I love to recieve comments! It really motivates my writing!


	17. Roadside Attraction

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Stan takes the kids out on a road trip, and when Bill tags along, Dipper is forced to deal with the lingering feelings after their break up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I actually managed to update this before I thought I would. Sorry if it's not that good, especially near the ending, something recently happened in my personal life that has caused me a very bad case of depression, but I still hope you enjoy this chapter:3

It was late at night, Dipper was lying in his bed, the room was quiet except for the sound of Mabel’s breathing, and Dipper was only just about to fall asleep. It was only his second night after having broken up with Bill, and he could already tell that his insomnia was getting worse. Maybe he should start taking sleeping pills? It would be better than nothing.

Dipper picked up his phone and looked at the digital clock, it was 03:37, and gave a deep sigh before turning in his bed, trying to find a somewhat comfortable position.

Suddenly, Dipper could hear a low, slightly muffled guitar playing a melody, followed by singing:

♫ I’m lying alone  
With my head on the phone  
Thinking of you ‘till it hurts  
I know you’re hurt too  
But what else can we do?  
Tormented and torn apart ♫

“Mabel?” Dipper whispered to his sister, who began stirring in her sleep before opening her eyes. “Is your phone ringing? Or did you accidently set an alarm?”

“Whuh?” Mabel rubbed her eyes, trying to wake up.

♫ I wish I could carry your smile in my heart  
For times when my life feels so low  
It would make me believe what tomorrow could bring  
When today doesn’t really know ♫

“That song,” Dipper clarified.

“No, I don’t even have that song on my phone,” Mabel responded and listened. “I think it’s coming from outside.”

Dipper rose from his bed and opened the window, right as the song moved on to the chorus:

♫ I’m all out of love  
I’m so lost without you  
I know you were right, believing for so long  
I’m all out of love  
What am I without you?  
I can’t be too late to say that I was so wrong ♫

Dipper was genuinely surprised to see Bill, not because he hadn’t counted on never seeing the demon again, but because Bill was currently holding a boom box over his head and smiling brightly at Dipper.

“Bill, what the hell is this?” Dipper yelled at the demon.

“This is what humans do when they want to win back their lovers, right?” Bill called back. “They always do that in movies! Plus, Bleeding Heart told me about it! I even stole his boom box! You don’t like him, right?”

♫ I want you to come back and carry me home  
Away from these long lonely nights  
I’m reaching for you  
Are you feeling it too?  
Does the feeling seem oh so right? ♫

“Bill, it’s over!” Dipper shouted. “No amount of serenading is gonna change that! Besides, you know you aren’t allowed at the Shack anymore!”

“I’m still outside the barrier!” Bill explained. “I’ve figured out the exact spot where the barrier begins, and I’ve walked around the entire Shack to highlight it!” Dipper did notice a line drawn in the dirt that seemed to go around the building.

“Bill, leave before I get Ford,” Dipper warned the demon.

“But you need to hear the rest of the song!” Bill insisted, but Dipper didn’t listen. He walked away from the window and began to search through his things.

♫ And what would you say if I called on you now?  
And said that I can’t hold on?  
There’s no easy way  
It gets harder each day  
Please love me or I’ll be gone ♫

Bill dropped and smashed the boom box as he was hit by a golf ball thrown from the window.

“That was your last warning!” Dipper yelled through the window. “Leave now, or I’ll get Ford!”

Bill gave Dipper a hard to read look before teleporting away.

Dipper sighed and closed the window before he returned to his bed.

“Don’t you think you were just a bit too hard on him?” Mabel asked, now fully awake.

“Hmm, do I think I was too hard on the demon who’s trying to destroy the world?” Dipper pondered sarcastically.

“Come on, Dipper, you don’t know that,” Mabel argued.

“You weren’t there with Ford, Mabel! And besides, you were the one who got the unicorn hair to protect the shack.”

“I did it for Grunkle Ford; he’s clearly scared of Bill, but that doesn’t mean you have to be. Have you even talked to him about this? Gotten his side of the story?”

“No, and I’m not going to!” Dipper turned his back to his sister. “I’m not gonna let Bill manipulate me again.”

“Urgh!” Mabel groaned at her brother.

 

Dipper was rudely awakened the next morning by a blaring car horn. He got quickly dressed and went outside to find Stan and Soos packing up an RV.

“Whoa, an RV, camping gear?” Dipper remarked to his Grunkle. “Are you running from the law again?”

“Dude!” Soos yelled from the roof of the car. “It's the ultimate Oregon road trip adventure!”

“More like revenge trip,” Stan corrected the handy man. “Every year my tourist trap competitors prank the Mystery Shack. Last year those hooligans duct taped Soos to the ceiling.”

“That was a fun 78 hours,” Soos added.

“Well no more!” Stan pulled out a map of Oregon’s many tourist traps and handed it to Dipper. “This year we're visiting every tourist trap along the Redwood Highway, and I'm gonna prank back every single one.”

“Bow wow!” someone yelled. Dipper turned around and saw that Grenda had been the one shouting, and that she was followed by Candy. “Time to let the road dogs bark!”

“That is us,” Candy clarified. “We are the road dogs.”

“Thanks for letting me bring Candy and Grenda along for our road trip, Grunkle Stan,” Mabel said to Stan and gave him a quick hug.

“The more the merrier,” Stan replied and handed Candy and Grenda two pieces of the paper that looked like contracts. “Just sign these non disclosure agreements. None of your parents are lawyers, right?”

“What do you say, dude?” Soos asked Dipper and jumped down from the roof. “You comin’?”

“I already went to the trouble of packing all your stuff,” Mabel said cheerfully.

“Mabel, are you crazy?” Dipper pulled his sister aside. “Currently, the only safe place is inside the Mystery Shack, and you want us to drive around Oregon?”

“Well, yeah,” Mabel shrugged. “Listen Dipper, you spend all day yesterday, and the day before, inside the Shack; that’s not healthy. Bill or no Bill, you still need to go outside.”

“What part of ‘powerful, dream demon trying to cause the end of the world’ don’t you get?” Dipper rubbed his temples.

“What’s going on out here?” Ford stepped out of the house and saw all the commotion.

“Grunkle Ford,” Dipper ran up to Ford and pulled Mabel along. “Grunkle Stan and Mabel are going on a trip through Oregon! And they want me to join them!”

“Well, that might not be a bad idea,” Ford said.

“I’m sorry, I thought the Shack’s barrier was the only thing keeping us safe from Bill,” Dipper reminded Ford.

“In the Gravity Falls, yes,” Ford agreed. “But Bill can’t leave Gravity Falls. In fact, you might be even safer out of town than staying in the Shack.”

“So, what do you say, Dipper?” Mabel grinned excitedly at her brother.

“Alright, fine,” Dipper sighed and crossed his arms over his chest.

 

After everything was packed, everyone got inside the RV, Soos and the girls in the back, Stan and Dipper in the front, and they drove off.

Candy was looking through all the different pamphlets she could get her hands on while Stan tried to tell her that they were useless. Dipper looked out the window and gave a wistful sigh.

“Something wrong, kid?” Stan asked him, keeping his voice low so they others couldn’t hear him.

“It’s just this whole thing with Bill,” Dipper responded. “I really cared about him, I still do! But… finding out that someone who meant so much to you was just using you, it’s… it’s hard… I mean, I’m not really as surprised as I thought I would be; I suspected that Bill was playing me from the start, but… it doesn’t make it hurt any less.”

“Yeah, I was kinda shocked too,” Stan replied. “I only knew Bill as an employee, but he genuinely seemed to care about you kids, wanted to keep you safe,” Stan gave a small chuckle. “You can’t imagine how mad Ford was with me; ‘How could you hire a demon?’ ‘Didn’t you realize he was dangerous?’ ‘Did you even read the journals? I put so many warnings about this specific demon in them’. It was kinda hilarious.”

Dipper gave his Grunkle a weak smile before returning to look out the window.

“… You know,” Stan continued after a short pause. “The best way to move on after a bad break up is by finding a rebound.”

“I… don’t think that’s true,” Dipper frowned.

“Well, that’s what I did after Carla broke up with me.”

“I thought you stole her boyfriend’s car and drove it off a cliff.”

“That’s beside the point!” Stan said. “Look, break ups are always gonna be hard, but they’re easier if to handle if you start seeing someone else.”

Dipper didn’t respond, he didn’t even look at Stan until they arrived at their first stop.

 

They arrived at the tourist trap which boasted having the world’s largest ball of yarn. Apparently the woman who owned the placed had set Stan’s car on fire twice. While Stan, Soos, and the girls ran off to sabotage the exhibit, Dipper decided he might as well try to take Stan’s advice.

He saw a girl around his age eating an ice cream cone nearby, and walked up to her.

“So, uh…” he started awkwardly. “Come here often?”

“No, I’m a tourist,” the girl said matter-of-factly.

“You’re funny,” Dipper laughed nervously. “And cute. I mean, not cute. I mean, you’re not, not cute. Phew, let me start over,” he extended his hand. “My name is Dopper.” The girl responded by dumping her ice cream on Dipper’s extended hand before walking off.

Dipper sighed, his shoulders sagging in defeat, but he froze up when he felt someone embrace him from behind.

“Oh, she’s not good enough for you anyway, Pine Tree,” Dipper looked behind him and saw Bill grinning at him. “Well, to be fair, most people aren’t good enough for you. You deserve someone powerful, someone who can hand you the world on a platter, wouldn’t you agree?”

“Bill!” Dipper shouted. “What are you doing here!?”

“Oh, I found that map of tourist traps outside the Shack, and figured out that Mr. Pines took you saplings on a road trip, so I teleported to this place and waited for you to arrive!”

“No, I mean, how are you even outside of Gravity Falls!?”

“Oh, of course I can leave Gravity Falls,” Bill laughed. “But I can only stay away for an hour at the time, otherwise I’ll die! And for each minute I spend outside of the town, is ten minutes I have to spend inside the town to recharge! Oh, let me help you with that,” Bill snapped his fingers and the ice cream cone levitated into the air, turned over, and landed cone first in Dipper’s hand. “Look! Aren’t I just the nicest boyfriend? Why, of course I’ll forgive you and take you back, Pine Tree-“

Dipper dropped the ice cream on the ground and walked away from Bill and back to the RV.

After a couple of minutes, Stan, Soos, and the girls joined him in the car, but surprisingly enough, Bill walked into the RV as well.

“Bill!” Dipper shouted when he spotted the demon. “Get out of here!”

“Shooting Star said I could come along,” Bill smirked.

“Mabel!” Dipper yelled at his sister.

“Bill is still my friend, Dipper,” Mabel glared at her brother. “If I wanna bring him along, that’s my decision.”

“Grunkle Stan!” Dipper turned to Stan.

“What do you want me to do about it?” Stan shrugged. “I don’t really have anything to fight off a demon.”

Dipper groaned and walked up to the front seat, pulling a curtain that blocked off the front and back sections off the car.

“Alright,” Bill nodded to himself and sat down the seat opposite of Soos. “I think I’m close to winning Pine Tree back.”

“What makes you think that, dude?” Soos asked.

“Well, he’s basically acting towards me like he did when we first started hanging out,” Bill explained. “I won him over once, I can do it again. I just need to save his life a couple of times. Hey, Mint Drop?”

“Me?” Candy inquired.

“Yeah, you,” Bill nodded. “You’ve read those brochures, right? Do you know if there are any bears, wolves, or deer in mating season in these parts?”

“No, the pamphlets did not say anything about that,” Candy frowned.

“Hmm… Then it’s gonna get a little more tricky,” Bill looked away, lost in thought.

 

Bill ended up teleporting back to Gravity Falls to recharge, but said that he would join them on their next stop, which was Upside-Down Town.

Dipper once again decided to try and socialize with someone; at least it couldn’t go worse than the last place. Dipper spotted another girl, maybe one or two years younger than him inside the tourist trap. He took a deep breath and approached her.

“H-hi, I’m Dipper,” he introduced himself. “Crazy place, right?”

“Oh, hi, I’m Emma Sue,” the girl responded in a friendly tone. “You know, if you pretend we’re right side up, it looks like everyone’s hair is standing on end.”

“There you are, sweetheart~” Dipper heard a familiar voice say before he was hugged from behind. “I was looking for you everywhere.”

“Hello,” Emma Sue greeted the newcomer. “I’m Emma Sue.”

“The name’s Bill,” the demon smiled at the human girl. “I’m this one’s boyfriend,” Bill punctuated his statement by soft pinching Dipper’s cheek.

“Aw, how sweet,” Emma Sue gushed.

“He’s not my boyfriend,” Dipper said deadpanned.

“There’s no need to be embarrassed, Pine Tree,” Bill hugged him tighter. “He’s still a little awkward about our relationship,” Bill stage-whispered to Emma Sue.

“Oh, I get that,” Emma Sue nodded in response. “By the way, what kind of hairspray and washing soap do you use? Your hair and clothes are practically defying gravity.”

It was true; Bill looked exactly like he was right side up.

“That would be my secret,” Bill gave the girl a pseudo-wink.

“Aw, too bad,” Emma Sue pouted playfully. “But seriously, you two make an adorable couple.”

“Emma, come on!” a man yelled from outside the attraction. “We have to get to Canada before your mother gives birth!”

“Sorry, I need to go,” Emma Sue apologized. “It’s a long story. Maybe I’ll see you guys again sometime?”

“I wouldn’t count on it,” Bill smiled at her as she ran out to her father.

“Okay,” Dipper sighed and broke out of the demon’s embrace. “What are you hoping to accomplish with this?”

“Eh, mostly preventing you from starting to see someone else,” Bill shrugged nonchalantly while looking at his nails.

“Seriously?” Dipper said in disbelief. “Do you have any idea how scummy that is?”

“Oh, and dating someone just to get over a past relationship, not caring about their feelings, is somehow better?” Bill glared at Dipper.

“Maybe I actually liked her?” Dipper crossed his arms over his chest defensively.

“If you did, you wouldn’t even have gotten a sentence in,” Bill replied smugly. “We both know what you’re like around people you have a crush on.”

“Okay, I’m done talking to you,” Dipper stormed off angrily, forgetting that he was currently walking upside down, and got an unfriendly reminder when he reached the exit door and landed on the floor with a crash.

“I’m okay!” he called out before walking back to the RV.

 

And that’s how it continued for the next stops; Dipper would try to socialize with someone, Bill would appear out of nowhere and say that the two of them were in a relationship, Dipper would get angry at Bill, and Bill would make a weak attempt at flirting with Dipper.

By the time the sun went down, the gang stopped at some place called “Septic Ridge RV Park” for the night, except for Soos who had gone lost in the Corn Maze at a previous stop and the others had yet to notice. Dipper and Stan decided to try out the hot tub, while the girls were eating marshmallows by a bonfire they had made.

“It’s just really frustrating,” Dipper complained to his Grunkle. “I’m actually getting more comfortable talking to others, but he keeps butting in and ruining everything!”

“I can see your frustration,” Stan noted in a tone that made it clear he didn’t care at all.

“It’s just really hard,” Dipper sighed. “A part of me wishes that everything could just go back to how it was before, but I keep thinking back to what Ford said.”

“Eh, my brother isn’t the biggest relationships expert,” Stan shrugged.

“But this isn’t about relationships, this is about the fate of the world,” Dipper pointed out. “Besides, Bill was the one who got Ford to build the portal in the first place; if it weren’t for him, Ford wouldn’t have been trapped in there for thirty years. Doesn’t that bother you?”

“On the other hand, if it weren’t for me Ford wouldn’t have been stuck in that portal for thirty years,” Stan retaliated. “People make mistakes, kid; I’m sure demons do too.”

“I don’t know, Grunkle Stan,” Dipper sighed. ”I really don’t.”

Bill had overheard Pine Tree’s conversation with his grunkle; he had been waiting to give Pine Tree a drawing he had made as yet another present, but now it seemed pointless.

The demon dragged his feet to the RV where the girls were playing some kind of game, but Bill didn’t pay attention.

He let himself fall to the ground headfirst and gave a whiny moan.

“Hi, Bill,” Shooting Star greeted him. “You wanna join in the game?”

“We are playing Truth or Dare or Don’t,” Mint Drop explained.

“What’s the point of anything?” Bill groaned, his voice slightly muffled by the dirt he was lying face first in.

“What’s that you’re holding?” Shooting Star asked, pointing at the piece of paper in Bill’s hand.

“I made this drawing for Pine Tree,” Bill handed the paper to Shooting Star. “I borrowed your glitter pens; I couldn’t find anything else to make it.”

Mabel looked at the drawing; it was very sparkly, which was always a plus in Mabel’s book. The picture was definitely of Dipper, and looked mostly like something an eleven year old who had just discovered shading and perspective would draw, but overall not too bad, at least it had a cute charm to it.

“Bill!” Mabel shrieked when she saw that a big part of the demon’s body had turned see-through, something she hadn’t spotted before due to the low lighting. “Your body’s disappearing!”

“It’s because I’ve been away from Gravity Falls for too long,” Bill replied and finally rose from the ground, sitting down beside Mabel. “But what’s the point? Pine Tree hates me now.”

“You know, you could always find someone else,” Grenda spoke up. “I’m just saying, if I wasn’t seeing Marius, I would go for it.”

“Heh, I’ll take that as a compliment,” Bill gave a small smile before frowning again. “But there is no one else for me. I don’t know how it happened, but Pine Tree has made me feel in a way I have never felt before. I used to always be so happy whenever I even thought about him, and watching him see so many things for the first time, even if it was something I had seen a thousand times, it felt like the first time whenever I was with him. But now… Now I just feel so sad all the time, and whenever I think about him, it’s like there’s a waterfall of acid and meteorites inside my chest, and it hurts!”

“Girls! Don’t you see what’s going on here?” Mabel suddenly spoke up. “What’s happening here is a crime against true love! These two idiots belong together, and we need to make Dipper see it!”

“Yes!” Candy and Grenda said in agreement.

“Bill!” Mabel pointed at the demon. “Go back to Gravity Falls, charge up, and return right before we leave for the last tourist trap, tomorrow at nine am!”

“I’m assuming you have a plan?” Bill questioningly raised an eyebrow. “What else do you need me to do?”

“Just be your usual self,” Mabel gave the demon a thumbs up. “I promise, by tomorrow evening, everything will be back to normal!”

 

The next morning as the group got ready to leave, Bill managed to teleport in just in time.

“Alright, now that the demon’s here, is everyone ready to leave?” Grunkle Stan asked.

“Question,” Mabel raised an arm. “The back seat makes me car sick. Can I sit up front today?”

“Eh, I don’t know, sure,” Stan shrugged as he got into the driver’s seat.

“Okay,” Dipper said to himself as he moved onto the vehicle. “Guess I’ll sit…” Candy and Grenda were already sitting down, leaving only the double-seat on the left. Dipper took the seat next to the window and looked out of it, only looking up when someone sat down next to him. “Bill,” Dipper groaned. “Couldn’t you sit somewhere else?”

“There’s literally nowhere else for me to sit, Pine Tree,” Bill pointed out with a smirk.

“Well, couldn’t you just meet us at the last stop?” Dipper inquired.

“And miss this fun road trip?” Bill countered.

Dipper could hear the girls giggling as Candy quickly rose from her seat and moved a curtain over Dipper and Bill’s seat.

“Urgh, don’t tell me,” Dipper groaned and rubbed his forehead. “Mabel?”

“Your sister really thinks we should get back together,” Bill explained. “And honestly, so do I.”

“Bill, I’m not having this conversation with you,” Dipper said. He rested his head against the window and closed his eyes.

“Are you trying to sleep?” Bill asked.

“Yeah, I haven’t exactly slept well these last days,” Dipper mumbled in response. “Might as well get some extra minutes…”

Bill didn’t answer. Instead he just looked at his Pine Tree, waiting for the moment where his breathing evened out and his body completely relaxed. Bill had missed watching Pine Tree sleep; it was a very tranquil experience, seeing all the worry lines and stress temporarily leave the human in exchange for a couple moments of peace.

Bill removed the black jacket he had decided to wear today, more as an accessory than because of functionality, and draped it over Pine Tree’s sleeping body.

Bill knew it would probably be best for him to teleport back to Gravity Falls and meet the group at the last stop like Pine Tree had suggested, just so he could spend as much time as possible with the human. Bill kept telling himself that he would stay only for a few more minutes, but he didn’t teleport away until twenty minutes had passed.

 

“Alright, everyone, we’re here!” Dipper heard Grunkle Stan yell, followed by the excited shouts of Mabel, Grenda and Candy.

Dipper groaned as he forced his eyes to open. He noticed that someone had placed Bill’s jacket over him like a blanket, most likely the demon himself. Dipper could still smell the demon’s scent on the coat. He blushed and took the jacket under his arms and ran out of the RV, hoping to find Bill.

When he couldn’t spot the demon in the immediate area, he ran up to Grunkle Stan who had just sent the girls off to tip a blue ox statue.

“Grunkle Stan, did you see where Bill ran off to?” Dipper asked.

“Nope,” Stan shrugged. “Is that his jacket?”

“Yeah, I think,” Dipper blushed a little and paused before he continued his response. “I think he draped it over me.”

“Well, looks like he’s not giving up just yet,” Stan grinned.

“This is terrible, Grunkle Stan!” Dipper insisted. “He keeps trying to patch things, and I’m nearing my breaking point! If this keeps up, I’ll eventually just start dating him again.”

“And that’s a bad thing because…?”

“First Mabel, and now you,” Dipper shook his head in frustration. “What about the part where he’s manipulating me? Or that he’s going to destroy the entire world?!”

“Welp, the apocalypse needs to happen some way,” Stan shrugged. “Now, if you’ll excuse me,” Stan began strutting over to the ticket booth. “I have my eyes on someone.”

Dipper rolled his eyes as Stan began to flirt with an elderly woman working at the ticket booth.

“Might as well just check out the mummy exhibit,” Dipper grumbled to himself, having nothing else to do.

 

As Dipper stepped into the mummy museum, he found it sort of odd that for one, there would be mummies in Oregon of all places, and two, that there was a banner saying that there was new mummies every day. Dipper walked further inside, his instincts telling him that something was very wrong.

“Now there’s a good thing that humans should start doing again,” Dipper jumped up in surprise at the sudden voice. He turned around and of course there was Bill standing right behind him, smirk on his face.

“You actually think mummification is a good thing?” Dipper asked incredulously.

“Well, I might have played a part in having it invented,” Bill replied, his smirk growing. “The entire process is really something else; you remove all the organs, use wine and spices to rinse the body, then you place the body in salt for two months, stuff it like a teddy bear, and wrap it up. And there you have it, an expertly preserved meatbag.”

“Well, at least you didn’t go into too much detail,” Dipper laughed, and Bill smiled brightly at hearing his Pine Tree’s laughter.

Bill lead the two of them over to a bench placed inside the museum.

“Isn’t this nice, Pine Tree?” Bill asked. “It’s like it used to be.”

“… Yeah,” Dipper’s smile faded, a deep frown appearing on his face. “Oh, and here’s your jacket back,” Dipper handed the demon his coat.

“Keep it,” Bill insisted. “I don’t really need it. But what I meant is, everything can be like it was before,” Bill took Dipper’s hands into his own. “I mean, weren’t we happy before? I know I was.”

“Look, Bill,” Dipper sighed. “It’s just… How am I supposed to trust you after everything?” Dipper took his hands out of Bill’s grip and rose from the bench. “I still like you, Bill, I really do, but how do I know that all this isn’t just a game to you?”

“You thought that once before,” Bill replied. The demon rose from the bench too and walked up behind Dipper. “But I convinced you otherwise. I can do that again,” Bill slowly raised his arms, moving them around Dipper to embrace him from behind when Mabel stormed in.

“Dipper! Bill!” she yelled, sounding out of breath as she ran in; she had her cell phone in one hand. “I just got a call from Grunkle Stan! He’s in trouble! He’s been taken captive by some spider-lady, and she’s going to eat him, and I really need your help!”

“What?!” Dipper explained. “Let’s hurry up, Mabel!”

Bill watched the twins run out of the museum and was just about to follow them when he saw that one of his arms was starting to fade away; he didn’t have much time left. Bill knew he could only help the twins by using his magic, but using his magic would drain him, perhaps leaving him without enough energy to teleport back to Gravity Falls and recharge.

Bill began to teleport away, knowing that the twins would be able to handle this just fine without him.

 

After a big rescue mission, and thanks to Candy’s insistence on reading the brochures, the group had managed to save Stan from the spider monster, Darlene, who was currently stuck underneath the boot of the giant Paul Bunyan statue.

Right as the group was celebrating their victory, Bill teleported in again.

“Alright, what did I miss?” the demon asked, rubbing his hands together.

“Where were you!?” Dipper shouted angrily at the demon.

“Relax, Pine Tree, everything turned out fine,”

“We were almost eaten by a giant spider!” Dipper yelled.

“Look, I just needed to recharge a bit; I wouldn’t have been any use to you without my magic.”

“Useful or not, we needed you there, I needed you there-“ Dipper paused when he heard Darlene speak up from underneath the statue.

“Staaaannnyyy…” she said in a very over-the-top damsel in distress tone as she pulled her human head back on. “I'm sorry. I dunno what came over me. You'll let me out, right?”

“What!?” Stan exclaimed. “After all that? Seriously, do I look like an amnesiac?”

“You’re so funny,” Darlene giggled. “Have you ever considered becoming a comedian?”

“You know, I actually have,” Stan said, his previous anger forgotten. “Comedy is too subtle these days. My style involves more over-sized props,” he moved closer to Darlene. “Here, let me get you out from there-“

The girls pulled Stan back as Darlene turned back into her spider form and tried to grab Stan.

“Oh, yeah, right,” Stan said to himself.

“Pine Tree?” Bill placed a hand Dipper’s shoulder, but he shrugged it off.

“It was a mistake to trust you, Bill,” Dipper replied. “It’s over. And if I ever see you again…” Dipper didn’t finish his sentence, he just threw Bill’s jacket back at the demon and ran towards the RV.

 

On the way back home in the van, Dipper was sitting up front with Stan again. The girls were quiet in the back.

“I guess I was wrong,” Stan told Dipper after a lot of silence.

“Hey, how could you have known Darlene was a spider?” Dipper tried to comfort his Grunkle.

“Well, yeah, about Darlene too,” Stan responded. “Actually, I think maybe I knew she was a spider? Wouldn’t have been the first time I dated something in that vein,” Stan shrugged before taking on a more somber tone. “I actually meant Bill; I consider myself a pretty good judge of character, and I honestly thought he wanted you kids the best. Maybe it’s best you don’t fall for his tricks twice. I mean, if the girls hadn’t been there, I would have actually helped Darlene out from under the statue, and what would that have gotten me?”

“I guess it’s easy to fall for charming monsters’ lies,” Dipper sighed and looked out the window.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, I think next chapter is going to be up soon, because it's going to be another short one. The next chapter is Dipper and Mabel VS The Future, but since most of the episode is left unaltered, like I said, it's probably going to be very short. Anyway, as always, please leave a comment if you want to, I love to receive comments!


	18. Dipper and Mabel vs. The Future

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Ford makes Dipper an incredible offer to stay in Gravity Falls, Mabel is left behind, feeling betrayed, and very vulnerable to a certain demon's influences

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, already a new update!?! Well, like I said, this is a very short one. While I'm not too happy with the first part, I am actually insanely proud of the second part, so hopefully you'll like it too:3

The first couple days after the road trip had been mostly normal; shortly after they got home, the group had realized that they had forgotten Soos, so Stan quickly dropped off the kids and drove back to get him. They were first back the next day because, according to Stan, Soos had insisted on spending some quality time together and wouldn’t shut up about it, but Soos had told the twins that it had all been Stan’s idea.

But the thing that really stood out to Dipper was that ever since the road trip, he hadn’t seen or heard anything from Bill; the demon hadn’t attempted any more seduction, hadn’t given him any more gifts that ranged from being questionable and sweet, apparently not even Mabel had heard from Bill.

At first, Dipper was sort of relieved, thinking it would make it easier to just forget about the demon, but he was so wrong. Now that Bill was gone, Dipper couldn’t stop thinking about him. It forced Dipper to go through all the events that had led to this, and he was beginning to feel a stinging regret for a lot of things he had said. He tried to justify it by telling himself that it had been necessary, but that didn’t make it stop hurting.

In the end, Dipper ended up spending most of his time just lying in bed, waiting for the summer to be over.

“Dipper, you can’t spend the rest of your life lying in bed,” Dipper looked up from his bed and saw that Mabel had arrived carrying Waddles.

“No,” Dipper agreed and continued to stare at the wall. “Just until summer’s over, then I can find some other place back home to waste away.”

“Urgh,” Mabel groaned. She walked over to his bed and sat down, placing Waddles in front of her brother. “Look who’s here to say hi!” Mabel tried to sound excited and wiggled Waddles around.

“Mabel, I’m not in the mood,” Dipper sat up in the bed and looked at his sister. “I just want to be left alone, okay?”

“Dipper, don’t you know what day it is?”

“I don’t care,” Dipper said as he threw himself back into the bed, his back hitting the mattress.

“In one week, we turn sixteen!” Mabel answered. “You know what that means? Driver’s license! Plus, we’ll be legal drinking age if we ever travel to Europe!”

“Mabel, I don’t care about driving and I don’t care about alcohol!” Dipper shouted. “I just want this summer to be over…”

“… Alright,” Mabel nodded sadly and picked Waddles up. “I get that you’re sad about Bill, Dipper. But if you change your mind, and decide you need some comfort, just tell me, okay?”

Dipper didn’t respond.

Mabel carried Waddles back out the room.

 

A couple hours later, Ford entered Dipper and Mabel’s room. After opening the door and seeing that Dipper didn’t react, the old man knocked a couple of times on the door to get his attention.

“Hmm?” Dipper looked up at Ford.

“Your sister mentioned that you weren’t feeling too well,” Ford said carefully as he moved closer to Dipper and sat down on the bed.

“It’s just this whole thing about Bill,” Dipper explained as he sat up and hugged his knees close to his body. “I’m beginning to regret a lot of the things that happened, and I’m starting to really miss him.”

“There’s nothing wrong with that, Dipper,” Ford assured. “Most people react that way to a break up… Or at least I think so.”

“Yeah,” Dipper sighed. “I just wish there was something that could take my mind off this whole thing.”

“Well, actually there might be,” Ford stuck his hand into his pocket and pulled out the globe where the rift was contained; the globe was cracked. “Remember the rift in dimensional space-time I showed you? It's cracking. If the globe cracks, the rift will be released, and it will be the end of the world.”

“What do we do?” Dipper asked.

“We patch the rift,” Ford said. “I'll explain on the way. If you wanna tag along, that is.”

“… Wait, what about Mabel?”

“It’s okay, Dipper,” Dipper looked behind Ford and saw his sister standing in the doorway. “You should totally go with Grunkle Ford to save the world or whatever.”

“Are you sure?”

“I really think you need this, Dipper,” Mabel walked over to her brother and sat down on the other side of him. “You go out there, get your blood pumping and the endorphins rolling, and you’ll be well on your way to getting over this.”

“Thanks, Mabel,” Dipper hugged his sister close. “I’m sorry I’ve been such a jerk lately.”

“It’s alright, Dipper,” Mabel said and hugged him back. “You’ve always been kind of jerk. Oh!” Mabel broke the hug when she was suddenly hit with realization. She pulled out two walky-talkies and gave one to Dipper. “Here you go! This way we can keep in contact. Now, while you go on your mission with Ford, I’ll be taking care of the first preparations for our sweet sixteen!”

 

As it turned out, those preparations didn’t go so well; Mabel had planned on throwing the party at the high school gym, now that there were no more ghosts haunting it, it could have turned out well, but apparently the gym had suffered some damages from that last party and was still being renovated.

She had tried to invite Candy and Grenda to the party, but they couldn’t make it. And since Bill wasn’t on talking terms with anyone in the family, that meant that he most likely wouldn’t show it either.

Mabel had tried to use the walky-talky to talk to Dipper for emotional support, but the signal had apparently died or something.

So a sad and dejected Mabel had been forced to return home.

 

Meanwhile, things had been going both good and bad for Dipper and Ford; good because the mission was helping Dipper keeping his mind off of Bill, but bad because Ford had gotten trapped by an alien machine and nearly gotten send to space prison. Luckily, Dipper had been able to rescue him, which had in turn brought up the subject of Ford offering Dipper the opportunity to stay in Gravity Falls.

Dipper had at first protested the idea, mostly because if he stayed it meant that Mabel would be all alone in California, but it seemed Ford didn’t quite understand what Dipper meant with all alone. His choice of words made it clear that the old man thought that Mabel must have had tons of friends waiting for her in California, which wasn’t the case; neither Dipper nor Mabel had any friends back in California, and their parents were almost never home. If Dipper chose to stay in Gravity Falls, his sister would have no one left in the world.

 

Mabel was sitting all alone in hers and Dipper’s room, looking at all the scrapbooks she had created during the summer.

“Hey, everything alright, Pumpkin?” Stan asked as he walked into the room.

“Just can't believe the summer's almost over,” Mabel responded. “And I just found out that me and Dipper’s party isn’t going to be everything I planned.”

“Don’t worry, sweetie,” Stan laid an arm over her shoulder. “I’m sure your party’s gonna be great! I mean, I’ll be there, so how couldn’t it be?”

“I’m just starting to realize that it’s all going to be over soon,” Mabel said. “I don't wanna say goodbye to Gravity Falls.”

“Hey, at least whatever happens after this summer, you'll still have your brother along with you through thick and thin,” Stan reassured her while noogieing her head, before leaving.

“Yeah,” Mabel smiled, beginning to feel her mood lift. “At least when I go home, I’ll always have Dipper,” she picked up a picture of her brother from one of the scrapbooks. “Good ol', reliable ol'-“

Mabel was cut off by the sound of the walky-talky crackling; it seemed like the signal was back. And she could hear Dipper and Ford talking.

“Are you okay?” Dipper’s voice said over the walky-talky.

“I'm fine,” Ford’s voice responded.

“Let's get you out of there,” Dipper’s voice said again.

“Listen to me, Dipper: this town is a magnet for things that are special,” Ford’s voice continued. “And that includes you and me. It brought both of us here for a purpose! Stay here with me, Dipper. Become my apprentice. Don't let anyone hold you-“ Ford began coughing.

“I'll do it,” Dipper’s voice said, and Mabel gasped in shock. “I’m gonna stay.”

“Excellent,” Ford’s voice responded, sounding proud. “Now who wants to save the world, apprentice?”

The walky-talky began crackling once more; the signal was lost again.

“… No…” Mabel gasped. Tears began streaming down her face. “No, no, no!”

 

The first thing Dipper did after returning to the shack was running up to his and Mabel’s room. He barged in, excited to talk to his sister.

“Mabel!” he said excitedly. “You were right! This was just what I needed! I had a great time with Grunkle Ford! UFOs are real and there’s one under the town and I saved Grunkle Ford’s life and- and…” Dipper paused when he saw Mabel lying in her bed. “Hey, are you okay?”

“Tell me it's not true, Dipper,” she nearly sobbed. “Tell me you were joking,” Mabel turned around, revealing the walky-talky in her hand. “Ford’s apprentice? Seriously?”

“Look, I was thinking and…” Dipper tried to explain, but had a hard time finding the words. “This is a huge opportunity for me.”

“Well, it's a horrible opportunity for me!” Mabel cried. “I had the worst day of my life! When we turn sixteen, the summer ends, and I have to leave everything behind. You're the only person I can count on and now you're leaving me too!?”

“Look, I've been thinking about it,” Dipper placed his backpack besides Mabel’s and sat down beside his sister. “I won't be gone forever, okay? I'll still visit you at home, and we'll chat online; we'll make it work.”

“I don't want it to work,” Mabel sobbed. “I just wish summer could last forever.”

“But it can't, Mabel,” Dipper laid an arm around his sister. “Look, things aren't gonna stay frozen this way. Things change. Summer ends.”

Mabel didn’t respond. She just threw Dipper’s arm off of her and ran away, picking up one of the backpacks on her way out.

“Mabel, wait!” Dipper called after her. “I didn't mean it like that! Mabel, come back!”

 

Mabel ran into the woods as fast as she could, not even hearing her brother calling out to her. She leaned against a tree and sat down on the ground.

“Only party chocolate can cheer me up now,” she began looking through the backpack. “Nerd books? Chewed up pens? Ugh, wrong backpack. Not fair. I just wish summer could last forever.”

“Shooting Star?” Mabel looked up and saw Bill, who seemed to be just as surprised to see her as she was to see him.

“Bill?” Mabel wiped her eyes, trying to remove her tears. “What are you doing here?”

“I’ve been using these last days to think things through,” Bill sighed and sat down beside her. “It seems to me like you haven’t had a very good day.”

“It’s been the worst!” Mabel tried to contain her tears, not wanting the demon to see her cry.

“I’m surprised you aren’t with Pine Tree then,” Bill responded.

“He’s part of the reason why I’m so down,” Mabel confessed.

“So, you had a fight? Well, happens to the best of siblings,” Bill gave her a sad smile. “I’m sure you’ll be friends again by the time you leave for California.”

“Dipper won’t be leaving for California!” Mabel couldn’t hold back the tears anymore and she started to cry, leaning her head on the demon’s shoulder. “He’s staying here to become Ford’s apprentice, and I’ll be left all alone! Dipper was my only friend back in Piedmont! And he was the only other person in the house! And now, I’ll barely ever see him!”

“What?” Bill sounded calm, but there was an underlying anger in his voice. “… Shooting Star… did you say you wanted summer to last forever, before?”

 

Back at the shack, Dipper was taking the elevator down to Ford’s lab.

“Let me guess,” Ford began when Dipper stepped inside. “Mabel didn’t take it well?”

“I don't know, maybe I'm making the wrong decision,” Dipper wondered, mostly to himself. “I need to think about this.”

“Dipper, right now we need to focus on the mission,” Ford said. “Now come on, I've got the glue; hand me the rift and let's make history.”

Dipper reached into the backpack, but found only party flyers, balloons and confetti.

“Oh, no,” Dipper gasped in realization. “The rift!”

 

“What are you talking about, Bill?” Mabel asked the demon.

“There’s a way to make that possible!” Bill smiled brightly at her. “Give you some more summer, and me enough time to fix this mess! By the time I’m done, there won’t be anything left to tear you and Pine Tree apart!”

“Really?” Mabel sniffed, a matching smile starting to form on her face.

“Yes, but I need your help,” Bill began drawing a picture on the ground of something that looked like a snow globe. “Sixer has something like this hidden in his lab; I’ll need it to make this happen, but I can’t go into the shack, so I’ll need you to get it for me.”

“Wait, I think I saw something like that in Dipper’s nerd bag,” Mabel began rummaging through the backpack until she found something that looked exactly like Bill’s drawing. “Huh. That’s… odd,” she remarked at the small globe. “This it?”

“Yes, that’s it!” Bill grinned and reached his hand, palm up, to Mabel. “Now, just hand it over to me; I promise, everything will be fine.”

“… Just a little more summer,” Mabel said to herself before handing Bill the globe.

When Bill got the globe, he grinned victoriously and rose from the ground.

“So how is this going to work, anyway?” Mabel asked, rising from the ground too.

“Oops,” Bill said sarcastically as he dropped the globe to the ground before stomping on it.

“What?!” Mabel exclaimed. Bill didn’t respond, he just started laughing hysterically.

The air around them started changing, as a giant rift began ripping through the sky.

“Oh no!” Mabel gasped. “Wait, wait, wait!”

“Too late, Shooting Star!” Bill grinned. The demon snapped his fingers, and Mabel teleported away. “One sapling down, one to go.”

 

It felt like the entire earth was shaking when Dipper and Ford ran out of the shack. They stopped right behind the Bill had drawn that signaled where the barrier around the shack ended.

The sky had turned completely black, not a single star in view, as if the entire sky was covered by a thick, dark smog, except for one spot; the rift, which spread across the atmosphere, continuously growing bigger. Earthquakes were breaking the ground apart, trees and other plant life were bursting into blue flames, and the sound of people screaming in horror was barely audible over the noise of destruction.

Giant eyeballs with bat-like wings were scattering about; there seemed to hundreds, if not thousands, of them, and in the distance, a giant pyramid was floating, casting a menacing shadow over Gravity Falls.

“What’s going on?!” Dipper asked. “What is that!?”

“We’re too late!” Ford yelled. “It’s the end of the world.”

Suddenly, a bunch of glowing, white stairway steps appeared in front of them, leading down. On top of the steps, Bill teleported in; the lock of hair that usually covered his more demonic looking eye was brushed back, his entire outfit was similar to what he wore when he performed as a magician at the Mystery Shack, only the yellow coat split into coattails so long that they almost reached the ground, the coat was also sleeveless and had a brick pattern on it, and his top hat was slightly taller and slimmer.

“Well, well, well,” Bill smirked and began strutting down the steps. “What do we have here?”

“Bill Cipher,” Stanford glared at the demon and pushed Dipper behind him and out of Bill’s line of sight.

“Sixer, Pine Tree,” Bill greeted them as he reached the end of the steps. “In my opinion, it’s been far too long! How do you like what I’ve done to the place?” Bill cocked his head to the side and made a sweeping motion across all the chaos unfolding behind him.

“Bill, where’s Mabel?” Dipper walked out from behind Ford, a distraught look on his face.

“Oh, don’t worry,” Bill looked directly into Dipper’s eyes. “I’m taking good care of Shooting Star.”

“Where is she!?!” Dipper shouted. Bill took a couple of steps back, his face smug, yet calm and calculated.

“You’re gonna have to force the answer out of me, Pine Tree~” Bill smirked.

Dipper began to run towards the demon, fully intend making the demon talk through force.

“Dipper! No!” Ford tried to grab him, but it was too late. The moment Dipper had fully crossed the protective force field around the shack, Bill’s grin grew wider and the demon snapped his fingers, teleporting the human away. “No…” Ford gasped as he fell to his knees.

“Aw, don’t worry so much, Sixer,” Bill laughed. “He’s way safer where he is now than he would ever be here.”

“You bring him and Mabel back right now!” Ford shouted as he jumped back to his feet.

“Or else, what?” Bill grinned, cocking his head to the side again.

“I know your weakness,” Ford reminded the demon.

“Oh, right, that,” Bill let out a short, mocking laugh. “You do know that you’ll need Pine Tree and Shooting Star for that little ritual, right?” At the demon’s reminder, Ford’s previous confidence faltered somewhat. The demon grin was replaced with a frown as he continued. “You know, Fordsy, I didn’t want any of this; I was content to live out eternity as things were, but no, you just had to ruin everything!” Now Bill’s expression was full of fury. “I could understand why you didn’t want Pine Tree and Shooting Star near me, really, considering our history I completely understood. But then you just had to try and separate the two saplings didn’t you!?” Bill’s smirk then returned with a vengeance as he looked directly into Ford’s eyes. “How does it feel to know that you’re partially responsible for the apocalypse? But don’t worry; I’m not going to destroy this world entirely; I’m just gonna leave it a clean slate, leaving me free to recreate it exactly as I want it! And I’ll let you in on a little secret; in my new world, you won’t be there.”

“The shield is still protecting the shack and everyone inside it!” Ford responded. “You’ll never get me!”

“Well, let’s see how long you can stay in there,” Bill laughed. “Sooner or later, you’ll run out of food, water, or even hope, and then,” Bill snapped his finger and a bunch of the winged eyeballs flew over and formed a circle around the shack. “I’ll be ready for you. Now, if you’ll excuse me,” Bill made a dramatic 180 degree turn before turning his head to look back at Ford. “I have a little Pine Tree who needs some attention~” And with that, the demon teleported away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, now there's only two chapters left, plus the epilogue! I hope you enjoyed or was at least left emotionally distraught by this chapterX3
> 
> I don't know when the next chapter will be, because although I know what will happen in it, I'm not too sure how long it will be, but it will most likely be another short one, and it will be titled: "At The End of The World".
> 
> Please leave a comment, if you want to:3


	19. At The End of The World

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As Bill begins the apocalypse, the twins both attempt to talk some sense into the demon and get him to stop, with varying results.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright! Another chapter done:3
> 
> Sorry this one is short, and the pacing's kinda bad. I did my best.
> 
> Anyway, still hope you enjoy!

As Dipper ran towards the demon, he barely registered Bill snapping his fingers, teleporting the human away in a bright flash. When Dipper appeared in the new location, he failed to slow down in time, resulting in him losing his balance and falling over, landing face first into something soft and comfortable. Dipper looked around and realized he had fallen straight into a huge bed with curtains. The bed’s curtains and duvets were dark blue with many small white dots on them placed randomly, carrying a resemblance to a starry night sky, and was made of a very soft material, Dipper guessed it might be silk. He looked around the room; the floor was carpeted and had the same pattern as the bed curtains, the lowest half of the walls were paneled with white wood while the upper half was painted with a misty blue forest. The room had one door, which seemed to be made from mahogany and had a golden knob, the wall opposite of the door had a giant window covering most of it, but the window only showed an empty, black void. Aside from that, the room had a dresser, three bookshelves, all of which were stuffed with books, a black piano in the corner, and a blue couch.

Dipper rose from the bed and walked toward the door, ready to leave, when he heard the sound of the piano playing, followed by singing:

♫ We’ll meet again  
Don’t know where  
Don’t know when ♫

Dipper turned towards the piano and saw that it was Bill, playing and singing.

♫ Oh, I know we’ll meet again  
Some sunny day ♫

Bill stopped playing and lowered the lid, before turning his gaze to Dipper.

“Well?” he smirked at the human. “What do you think, Pine Tree?”

“… Your piano playing was pretty good, but you have a terrible singing voice,” Dipper responded, his body relaxing slightly.

“Oh, you wound me, Pine Tree~” Bill sighed melodramatically before he summoned a martini and took a sip. “Want one?”

“I’m not old enough to drink yet,” Dipper pointed out.

“Bah!” Bill and rose to his feet. “Rules no longer exist! Meaning has no meaning!”

“Bill, where is Mabel?” Dipper asked, his face filled with determination.

“Don’t worry about Shooting Star; she’s fine,” Bill assured him and stepped closer. “I think,” he downed the last of his martini before throwing the glass over his shoulder, the glass floating in the air instead of falling, and used both his arms to trap Dipper between him and the wall. “We should talk about us.”

“Look, Bill, I’m sorry,” Dipper pressed up against the wall, trying to put as much distance between the demon and him as possible. “But my decision stands. And you haven’t exactly given me a reason to believe a word you say.”

“Then maybe I shouldn’t convince you with words?” Bill leaned closer. Dipper quickly ducked under the demon’s arm and walked backwards, away from Bill. Bill began striding closer to Dipper again. “Don’t you see what we could be? The things we could do?!”

“Bill, you’ve gone too f- ah!” Dipper yelped in surprise as he fell backwards and landed on the bed. Bill jumped onto the bed, trapping Dipper beneath his body.

“Don’t you get what I’m offering you here, Pine Tree?” Bill leaned down and whispered into Dipper’s ear. “You want to be a god, revered by all? I can make that happen. You want to live a normal life in a normal world? I can make that happen… As well as anything in between… Whatever you want, it’s yours.”

“I want to see Mabel,” Dipper said insistently.

“Alright,” Bill shrugged and got off of Dipper. “Let’s say hi to Shooting Star,” Bill snapped his fingers and the two of them teleported away.

 

They arrived in some kind of lounge with two dark red sofas, a black armchair, a mahogany sofa table, and a fireplace burning with a blue flame.

Bill walked over to the only door in the room, opened it, and called out: “Shooting Star! Could you come here for a moment?”

“One second!” Mabel’s voice shouted back. Bill walked over and stood by Dipper’s side, and less than a minute later, Mabel came running through the door, dressed in a big, poofy pink dress. Her face lit up when she saw her brother. “Dipper!” she squealed in delight and ran over to him, giving him a powerful embrace.

“Mabel!” Dipper returned the hug. “I’m so glad you’re okay!”

“Well, yeah, why wouldn’t I be?” Mabel laughed, letting her brother go. “Oh, has Bill shown you your room yet? I’ve no doubt it’s alright, but I have a feeling it doesn’t top my room’s awesomeness-“

“Mabel, we need to get out of here,” Dipper whispered to her.

“What? Why?” Mabel gave her brother a look of confusion.

“Yeah, Pine Tree, why?” Bill smirked and floated into the air to lean over Dipper.

“You know why!” Dipper snarled at the demon and pushed him away. “Mabel, have you seen what Bill’s doing out there?”

“No, but Bill said I shouldn’t worry about it,” Mabel responded, her face gaining a worried frown.

“That doesn’t surprise me,” Dipper shook his head. “Everything is getting destroyed; it’s the end of the world-!”

Dipper was interrupted by Bill’s hand slamming over the human’s mouth, the demon’s other arm grabbing around the waist and pulling him close.

“So sorry, Shooting Star,” Bill smiled at Mabel. “But I think I need to have a small talk with Pine Tree back in his room. Don’t worry; I’ll be back before you know it.”

And with that, Bill and Dipper teleported back to the human’s room.

 

“What was the point of that?” Dipper asked when they returned to his room after managed to wrestle out of Bill’s grab.

“Well, you wanted to see Shooting Star, and you did,” Bill shrugged and crossed his arms. “Now you know she’s not in danger.”

“Mabel has no idea what you’re even doing!” Dipper argued. “And you won’t tell her because you know if she finds out, she’ll stop trusting you!”

“No,” Bill walked over to the big window and waved his hand in front of it. The blackness faded away to reveal an image of Gravity Falls; the town was in flames and ruins, Bill’s small eyeball-bats were flying around everywhere, and it looked like not even the forest was spared. “I simply didn’t want you to tell those lies to Shooting Star; you clearly don’t have any idea what I’m trying to accomplish.”

“Look at that, Bill!” Dipper pointed to the chaos and destruction. “How can you look at that and tell me that what you’re doing is a good thing!?! You’ve started the end of the world, just like Ford said you would.”

“Oh, when you put it that way, of course it’s gonna sound bad!” Bill countered. “Just, try stopping seeing this as the end of the world, and more like a house renovation,” Bill’s sentence was punctuated by a big explosion in the distance. “A very extreme renovation that involves breaking down the walls and tearing up the floors,” Bill elaborated.

“House renovations don’t kill people!” Dipper shouted. “I can’t believe I actually need to explain that to you.”

“See? There you go again, making assumptions!” Bill threw his hands in the air in exasperation. “I’m not killing people; that’s what the eyebats are for! They track living things down by heartbeat, turn them into stone, and bring them back here. Then, once I’ve… let’s go with ‘purged’ this world, we can rebuild it together! All three of us! We’ll decide who and what we want in this new world!” Bill was seemingly getting very excited over this idea. “Then, once everything’s done, I’ll close the rift myself, and that’ll be the end of that. Shouldn’t take long; everything’s progressing much faster than I anticipated. The apocalypse has already spread across the entire continent!”

“What about Ford?” Dipper suddenly said.

“Oh, I’m gonna kill him of course,” Bill answered nonchalantly.

“I’m not gonna let you, Bill,” Dipper said defiantly.

“What?” Bill looked at Dipper somewhat angrily.

Dipper began stepping backwards, slowly backing away from Bill again.

“Ford needs to go, Pine Tree,” Bill asserted, slowly advancing on Dipper. “After everything he’s done to me, to Shooting Star-“

“Don’t even pretend for a second this is about Mabel!” Dipper yelled, his legs hitting the foot end of the bed. This time he managed to fall backwards onto the bed by grabbing two of the bedposts holding the bed curtains.

“You’re right; it’s not about her,” Bill agreed. “It’s about both of you! Ford tried to separate you! If the old man wants to keep me away from you, fine, but the moment he even attempted to separate you and Shooting Star, his fate was sealed.”

“Then it’s just as much my fault!” Dipper shouted. Bill was standing right in front of him, looking into his eyes. “I was the one who agreed to taking Ford’s apprenticeship, knowing I would leave Mabel behind. So what? Are you gonna kill me too?”

“Of course not, Pine Tree,” Bill placed a gentle hand on Dipper’s cheek. The demon’s voice was soft and his eyes were tender. “I would never hurt you.”

Dipper almost didn’t want to, but he turned his head away from Bill’s hand.

“Bill, you have two options,” Dipper told the demon, his voice quiet and serious. “Either you stop the apocalypse, or I’ll stop you.”

“Is that really what you want, Pine Tree?” Bill asked the human.

“Yes,” Dipper responded with no hesitation.

“I see,” Bill closed his eyes and leaned forward, his face stopping only a few inches away from Dipper’s. After the demon didn’t move for a while, and with Bill’s lips so tantalizingly close, Dipper leaned forward the last inches, gently pressing his mouth against his former lover’s.

Dipper moaned as Bill’s mouth moved against his. Had Bill’s lips always been that soft? Nevertheless, the kiss continued, deepened. A voice in the back of Dipper’s head told him that should stop, that he should get out of there, find Mabel, and escape. But for the moment, with the demon so close and all previously buried emotion reemerging, Dipper chose to ignore it and continued his current activity. Once the passive kiss turned into full on making out, the thought crossed Dipper that maybe Bill’s plan was to distract him with kissing. As ridiculous as that plan was, in Dipper’s current position it seemed like a somewhat solid idea. But just as that thought appeared, Bill broke the kiss.

The demon stood close to the human. While Dipper gasped for much needed air, Bill leaned closer and whispered into his ear: “Please, forgive me for this…”

Before Dipper had a chance to react, Bill snapped his fingers and a sudden, heavy sleepiness overtook Dipper, and the human fell into a deep slumber.

Bill cradled the human’s body close before gently placing it on the bed.

“Don’t worry, Pine Tree,” Bill told the sleeping form. “This won’t be forever. Once you see the clean canvas I’m going to make the world, you’ll understand. Then you’ll see that I’m doing this for you.”

 

After Bill and Dipper had teleported out, Mabel had gotten a chance to think through some of things Dipper had said; was Bill really destroying the world? He wouldn’t actually do that, would he? The more Mabel thought about it, the more confused and conflicted she felt, so when Bill returned, this time without Dipper, she had a lot of questions.

“Bill, is what Dipper said true?” was the first thing that came out of her mouth when the demon teleported in.

“Hello to you too, Shooting Star,” Bill laughed in surprise. “And of course not; he was just exaggerating.”

“But where is he?” Mabel went on to ask.

“Oh, you don’t need to worry yourself about that,” Bill assured her. “You wanna make me some of that Mabel Juice? I can get the ingredients in a snap.”

“Stop trying to distract me, Bill! I’m not as dumb as you think,” Mabel snarled at the demon.

“I don’t think you’re dumb, Shooting Star,” Bill responded.

“Bill, where is my brother?” Mabel crossed her arms defiantly. “What did you do to him?”

“Fine,” Bill sighed dramatically and walked out of the door, leaving Mabel to follow.

They walked down a narrow hallway, which dimensions seemed to change randomly, at one point Mabel swore she was walking upside-down, before they reached a white door with a blue pine tree on it.

“Here it is,” Bill said as he opened the door revealing Dipper’s room. Mabel, however, didn’t pay any attention to most of the content in the room; all she focused on was her brother, lying seemingly lifeless on the bed.

“What have you done!?!” Mabel cried out as she rushed to her brother’s side.

“Relax, Shooting Star, he’s fine,” Bill promised and walked up behind her. “Pine Tree just has some problems accepting my methods, so I’ve put him into a magical slumber. I’ll wake him up once we’re ready to rebuild the world.”

“What methods?” Mabel asked as she turned to look at the demon. “What methods are you using?”

“Urgh, now you wanna know too?” Bill groaned. “Fine!” he walked over to the giant window hanging on the wall, waved his hand in front of it, and the inky blackness was replaced with images of cities, fields, and forests getting destroyed.

“This is awful…” Mabel gasped as she looked at all the mayhem. “How can you do this!?!”

“Look, it’s like a forest fire!” Bill insisted. “Once everything’s burned away, there’ll be room to rebuild!”

“Forest fires kill!” Mabel pointed out.

“No, no, don’t worry about that,” Bill continued. “I have sentries sent out; they locate any pulse nearby, turn the subject into stone, and transport them here! That way, nobody gets killed in the destruction, and we get to decide who we want in our new world!”

“Bill, can’t you see how wrong that is?” Mabel asked the demon dumbfounded. “You need to stop this!”

“NO!!!” Bill roared. “I’ve come too far now! I am not gonna stop this! And if you attempt to stop me, Shooting Star, I won’t hesitate to do to you what I did to Pine Tree.”

“Bill, I get that you’re scared, really I do,” Mabel placed a hand on the demon’s shoulder in an attempt to comfort him. “But this is wrong; you’re destroying the earth! Please, can’t you just reconsider?”

For a moment, Bill’s eyes softened, and Mabel thought she might’ve reached him, but his face took on a furious expression and he turned away.

“You can visit your brother all you want,” he said while walking out of the room. “I have other business to take care of.”

 

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE STILL HASN’T COME OUT!?!” Bill roared at one of his eyebats. It had been a while since his last conversation with Shooting Star; the human was currently giving him the cold shoulder and spent most of her time in Pine Tree’s room. One of Bill’s eyebats had just informed him that Sixer somehow still hadn’t come out of the shack, in fact, not even Sixer’s brother had left the house. “Do you know how long it’s been since you’ve been guarding the shack?” Bill asked, a tight, angry smile stretching across his face. The eyebat didn’t answer, since it didn’t have a mouth to respond with. “Of course you don’t! Time no longer holds any meaning! But humans still need food, and Sixer and Stan should’ve run out of food ages ago! I mean, if Ford had hidden off in his old shelter, then I could understand…” Bill paused for a moment. “Don’t tell me that…” he trailed off before turning back to his eyebat. “Send a group of eyebats over to search Sixer’s old shelter! And make sure you don’t accidently free that Shapeshifter!”

The eyebat flew off leaving Bill alone in his pseudo-throne room. Bill sighed and sat down on the stairs leading to his black throne. Originally, the room had had two extra thrones, but Bill had removed them due to the events that had transpired.

Why was it so hard for Shooting Star and Pine Tree to understand? Bill didn’t care about ruling or destroying, he just wanted things to be back to how they were before.

“Bill?” the demon looked up and saw that Shooting Star had arrived. She had a worried look on her face and her tone was even more distressing.

“What is it, Shooting Star?” in any other situation, Bill would have most likely been pettier, saying something like: ‘Oh, now you’ll talk to me’, but something about Shooting Star’s tone made him anxious.

“There’s something wrong with Dipper,” Shooting Star explained. “You need to come and see him!”

Bill followed Shooting Star to Pine Tree’s room, hoping the girl was merely overreacting, but when he entered the room and saw Pine Tree, he could already tell something was wrong; Pine Tree’s skin was very pale, Bill laid a hand on the boy’s neck to check his pulse and discovered that it was much too low for a human. The demon also placed a hand on Pine Tree’s forehead, and the human definitely had a fever.

“I… I don’t understand,” Bill shook his head in confusion and slight panic. “This shouldn’t be happening; the spell I used was safe.”

“Bill, please, just wake him up,” Shooting Star pleaded.

“Yeah, alright,” Bill nodded and snapped his fingers, but nothing happened; Pine Tree was still just laying there, not even a change in his breathing pattern. “… Why isn’t it working?” Bill sounded more panicking as he kept snapping his fingers. “He… he should be awake by now!”

“Bill, is it possible that maybe Dipper was under the spell for too long?” Shooting Star asked carefully. Bill paused; he hadn’t thought about that. He hadn’t thought that this was a possibility if the spell was used for too long.

“He’s… he’s gonna be fine, Shooting Star,” Bill said, mostly trying to assure himself. “I’ll… I can… I’ll figure something out.”

“Bill, I think we need to take Dipper to a hospital,” Shooting Star responded.

“But… no, we can’t,” Bill shook his head. “The apocalypse has already spread to the entire planet; there aren’t any hospitals left!”

“Then maybe it’s about time you stop this!” Shooting Star yelled, suddenly very angry. “I’m sorry, Bill, but now this has gone too far! My brother needs medical help, now!”

“But…” Bill swallowed audibly. “If I stop the apocalypse, I’ll lose Pine Tree…”

“If you don’t stop the apocalypse, Dipper will die!” Shooting Star countered, and Bill’s eyes widened in horrifying realization. Mabel took a deep breath and calmed down somewhat. “Look, maybe we can talk to Stan and Ford about this? They might not be too keen on letting you back into the shack after you started the end of the world, but maybe we can figure something out?”

“… This isn’t worth it,” Bill whispered and picked up Dipper’s body. “Come on, Shooting Star.”

And with that, Bill teleported them away.

 

When they arrived outside the Mystery Shack, Shooting Star rushed inside to grab her uncles, while Bill waited outside the circle, still holding Pine Tree’s body. After a couple of minutes and some muffled yelling, the three of them exited the shack.

“Mabel, sweetie,” Stan said to his niece when he saw Bill. “Could you take your brother for a short while?”

“Okay…” Mabel answered somewhat confused. She walked back over to Bill and took Dipper out of the demon’s arms. Right after doing so, Stan crossed the barrier and punched Bill in the face, so hard that the demon fell backwards.

“Alright, I deserved that,” Bill mumbled to himself before rising up.

“Stan, Mabel, get back inside the barrier,” Ford called to them. “We can figure out a way to save Dipper without-“

“No, listen to me!” Bill actually pleaded to Sixer. “I get that you don’t trust me! Really, I do. Especially since I recently threatened your life, kidnapped your niece and nephew, and have now put said nephew into some kind of magical coma. But I didn’t want that! I didn’t want any of this to happen!”

“Look, are you gonna get to the point or do I need to punch you again?” Stan asked impatiently.

“My point is, nothing is worth Pine Tree’s death,” Bill replied. “He needs help… Help that I can’t give him… So, I’m going to stop the apocalypse; I’m going to reverse all the destruction, bring all the people back, and then I’m going to permanently close the rift. My only request-“

“Of course there is a damn catch!” Ford yelled. “Even when you’re supposedly trying to save the life of someone you care about, you can’t help but try to get something out of it!”

“My only request,” Bill continued and threw a small glare at Ford. “Is that I’m allowed to see Pine Tree until he’s recovered.”

“What then?” Stan asked and crossed his arms.

“That’s your decision,” Bill answered. “You want me to leave, and never see the twins again, I’ll do that.”

“Alright,” Stan shrugged and walked towards Bill.

“Stanley! Don’t!” Ford called out after him.

“Look, Ford,” Stan turned around to look at his brother. “I get why you’re skeptical of this guy, but right now he’s giving us a way to stop all this and save Dipper. If you don’t want the kids to see him once all this is over, fine. But until then, the deal is gonna stand.”

And Stan and Bill shook on the deal, a blue light emitting from the handshake, which spread out all over, restoring everything to how it was before… or at least, mostly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's some trivia: The original version of this chapter was called "Glass Bubble of Emotion", and would feature Bill trapping Dipper in a bubble similar to what he did with Mabel, but I decided not to use it, because some of the things that ended up transpiring inside the bubble, while outside of Bill's control, would scar Dipper too much to ever trust Bill again.
> 
> Alright, one more chapter left, plus an epilogue! Next chapter is called "Making It All Okay", and was originally going to be much angstier, but I decided against it, since I felt some of the angst added made the final resolution feel somewhat cheap and overall got in the way of the happy ending.


	20. Making It All Okay

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dipper's in the hospital and seemingly dying. Bill is finding it hard to believe the human will ever awaken.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, wow! This turned out a lot longer than expected! I think the pacing's a little off, but other than that, I'm really proud of this chapter, and hopefully it'll live up to all you wonderful readers' expectations:3

The nearest hospital was half an hour away. They all drove there in Stan’s car, Dipper’s body resting across Mabel’s and Bill’s laps, on the backseat. When they all arrived, the hospital was overrun with chaos; doctors and nurses were scattering around, and many patients, humans and paranormal creatures alike were waiting to receive help.

After explaining the situation to one of the nurses, he quickly made arrangements for Dipper to be placed in one of the sick rooms.

Dipper was placed on a bed and was attached to a machine which read his vitals. After waiting in silence for fifteen minutes, a doctor walked into the room.

“Sorry for the wait,” she apologized when she arrived. “We’re currently trying to get everything under control, but after recent events… well, we have more patients than usual, some of which are creatures we have never even seen before, and we are currently severely understaffed.”

“But I thought everything was turned back to normal,” Bill pondered aloud.

“While it seems all damage to buildings and structures have been repaired, the people who were injured are still so,” the doctor explained.

“People were hurt?” Bill questioned. “But I- I mean, weren’t they just turned into stone?”

“Unfortunately, a lot of people did get hurt in the destruction,” the doctor answered. “I’m sorry. We’re doing everything that we can, but even if we were at full staff, I have never seen anything like this before.” The doctor gestured towards Dipper. “At first, we thought it might be a coma, but it seems to be something else entirely, only what, we don’t know. If we find out anything else, we’ll be sure to call you, but until then, the patient is going to have to stay here.” The doctor walked back out the door.

After a couple of minutes filled with silence, Bill abruptly walked out the door too. He ran down the hallway before collapsing by a wall where he began to cry.

Bill was somewhat surprised by his tears; he couldn’t recall if he had ever cried before, but now the tears were streaming down. There was a very high chance that Pine Tree would die, and it would be all Bill’s fault. He hugged his knees close to his torso and sobbed his heart out.

“Hey, Bill, Mabel wanted me to-“ Ford stopped in front of Bill, surprised and unnerved at seeing the powerful demon reduced to a sobbing mess. “Are… Are you crying?”

“… I guess I am,” Bill shrugged. In any other circumstance, he would have tried to cover up his tears, but now he simply didn’t care; what was the point in trying to deny it?

“… Mabel wanted me to get you back into the room,” Ford explained.

“I…” Bill paused and noticed his right hand was beginning to fade away, signaling that it was about time for him to return to Gravity Falls. “I need to leave now,” Bill rose from the floor. “Tell Shooting Star I said ‘goodbye’.”

And with that, Bill teleported back to his motel room.

 

During the next three days, Bill spent as much time as he could by Pine Tree’s side, waiting and hoping that one day the human would open his eyes again, but with each visit Bill lost the small bit of hope he had left.

The Pines family would often visit the hospital too; Shooting Star would talk to Pine Tree as if her brother could hear her, Sixer would bring along as many books as he could carry and look for anything that could cure Pine Tree’s condition, while Stan would yell at every other hospital staff he saw and demand that they fix his nephew. Question Mark and Red had come along once, on different days, as one of them was needed to watch the Shack. Question Mark would follow Shooting Star’s lead and talk to Pine Tree, often adding to Shooting Star’s stories, while Red was much quieter, evidently not good at tackling emotional issues.

It was currently early noon; Bill was holding Pine Tree’s hand tightly. The human’s pulse had grown weaker and his brain patterns fainter; if this kept up, Pine Tree would die before ever turning sixteen.

There was a faint knock on the door before it opened and Shooting Star stepped in.

“Hey, Bill,” she greeted the demon with a smile. “I have some good news; I talked with Grunkle Ford and managed to persuade him to lift the barrier on the Shack! I was even allowed to invite you over today!”

“I guess that’s a good thing,” Bill shrugged, his tone monotonous.

“No, it’s great!” Shooting Star insisted. “Don’t you think Dipper’s gonna get happy once he wakes up, to find out that you’re allowed in the Shack again?”

“Shooting Star,” Bill took a deep breath and let go of Pine Tree’s hand. “Pine Tree is not waking up.”

“What are talking about?” Mabel asked with clearly forced confusion. “Of course he’s gonna wake up! And when he does, we can finally plan our birthday party! And-“

“He’s not waking up,” Bill repeated. “… I can’t find him…” Bill elaborated. “I’ve been searching the Mindscape for him; since he’s asleep, he must be in the Mindscape, but I can’t find him anywhere; he’s gone.”

“Bill…” Shooting Star paused, a sad look on her face. “We can’t just give up. Dipper’s stronger than this, I know it.”

“You need to be prepared for the inevitable,” Bill replied. “Your brother’s dying.”

“I…” tears began to fill Shooting Star’s eyes as she turned to leave the room again. “I’m gonna go get Grunkle Ford and Grunkle Stan.”

Bill sighed and took Pine Tree’s hand again. Looking at Pine Tree, Bill was reminded of movies Shooting Star had shown him; mainly two, both of which involving a princess being put into a magic slumber and only awakened by a true love’s kiss. Of course the stories those movies were based on were quite a bit different, wherein in the first, the princess’ “true love” bought what he thought was her corpse from her caretakers and awakened her by accidently removing the piece of fruit that poisoned her when he was stroking her lifeless body. The other story involved a king who cheated on his wife by raping the princess’ sleeping body and leaving her there, the princess only awakening after she gave birth to twins and one of the twins sucked the piece of metal, which put her to sleep, out of her finger.

True love simply didn’t exist; Bill knew that for a fact. Love was just a chemical reaction created to reinforce a certain behavior, just like all emotions. But that left the question, why he had fallen in love with Pine Tree to begin with? While many species fell in love, demons weren’t among them. With the antisocial and isolated life of a demon, falling in love was a liability, an attachment to someone you would be forced to say goodbye to.

Maybe all that nonsense about true love, that humans loved to spew, actually held some kind of ground. At least, Bill could try it.

Bill leaned over Pine Tree’s body, lowering his head until his lips were almost touching the human’s, before slowly closing in the last inches, pressing mouth against Pine Tree’s.

Bill ended the chaste kiss and took a quick look at the screen which was monitoring Pine Tree’s condition; nothing had changed. Bill could feel the tears returning; he tried to fight them back, but he couldn’t, not now. He had allowed himself to hope, just for a second, that maybe this would have saved Pine Tree.

“Pine Tree,” Bill choked through his tears. “I really don’t know if you can hear me… But if you can, please wake up… Everyone’s missing you, and is just… waiting for you to open your eyes again… I’m sorry… I’m so, so sorry… I’d do anything to save you right now, but there’s nothing I can do. I hate feeling this helpless, knowing that the person I love the most in the entire world – in every single dimension – is dying, because of me, and there’s nothing I can do to save you…”

Bill placed a small kiss on Pine Tree’s forehead, right on the human’s birthmark, before he teleported away. He knew Shooting Star would need all the support she could get once she realized that Pine Tree wasn’t going to wake up, so he decided to take her up on her offer, and waited outside the Mystery Shack for the Pines Family to return.

 

About two hours later, the Stanley Mobile arrived at the Shack, with Bill still sitting outside. Mabel rushed out of the car when she saw Bill and gave him a big hug.

“I’m glad you decided to come,” she said happily while leading into the Shack. “After you left, I think Dipper’s vitals went up a little; it wasn’t much, but they seemed better than before.”

Bill just nodded, assuming that Shooting Star had imagined all that to comfort herself.

“I’ve been thinking,” she continued. “When Dipper wakes up, don’t you think he’d be really happy to have something delicious to eat? So, I went out yesterday and bought the ingredients needed to bake pancakes from scratch! Dipper loves pancakes, and I think it would make him really happy if you made them!”

“Shooting Star, I don’t exactly have any cooking experience,” Bill reminded her while she dragged him into the kitchen.

“Don’t worry; I’ll teach you!” Mabel assured him. And so the two went on to make pancakes. Bill heard Sixer and Stan enter the Shack too. The two old men were talking about Shooting Star’s and Pine Tree’s parents, whom they hadn’t yet been able to contact.

The dough for the pancakes was easy enough to make; flour, milk, eggs, as well as a bit of lemon peel and cardamom. Frying them, however, turned out to be a lot harder. Bill burned the first two pancakes rather severely, the next three only got a little bit burned, but the last ones turned out alright.

Bill vaguely heard the phone ringing from the living room, followed by Stan answering it. Bill didn’t pay much attention to the conversation between Stan and the caller, but soon after he heard Stan calling everyone into the living room.

Bill and Mabel left the newly made pancakes in the kitchen and joined Stan and Ford.

“I’ve got some good news and some terrible news,” Stan said solemnly. “That was the hospital that just called,” he elaborated. “The good news is that Dipper might have woken up… The terrible news is that he seems to have left the hospital.”

“WHAT!?!” Bill and Mabel both exclaimed.

“The hospital has no idea where he is, so we need to find-“ Stan was cut off when Bill rushed out the front door, quickly followed by Mabel.

“Bill!” She called after the demon. “Where are you going?”

“I need to find Pine Tree,” Bill simply said. He placed his hands on the ground and a trail of blue light sprung to life.

“What’s that?” Mabel asked.

“It’s a tracking spell,” Bill explained. “That light leads to where Pine Tree is.”

Bill began to walk, but he was grabbed by Mabel.

“Wait, Bill,” she said. “The hospital is less than an hour away from Gravity Falls, but only by car. Even if you run, you’re going to run out of time before you find Dipper.”

“That’s why I’m bringing you along, Shooting Star,” Bill replied and began walking forward, pulling Mabel along.

“Look, Bill, why don’t you just stay here, and then Grunkle Stan and Grunkle Ford can call the police and start a search-“

“Do you really trust Gravity Falls’ police to find Pine Tree?” Bill scoffed. “Shooting Star, we don’t know what kind of situation Pine Tree is in! He could be in even more danger than he was before, and my tracking spell is the fastest way to find his location.”

“Alright,” Mabel sighed. “Just, promise me that once your time begins to run out, you teleport back here.”

“… That’s a promise, Shooting Star,” Bill lied. He knew that by using his tracking spell, he would be expending too much magical energy to be able to teleport back, but if it could save Pine Tree, Bill was willing to sacrifice himself.

 

They followed the trail into the forest near the road, leading them further into the woods, but also further away from Gravity Falls. It took them fifty minutes, by which point almost half of Bill’s body had faded away, but they finally spotted Dipper, lying collapsed on the forest floor.

“Dipper!” Shooting Star called out and rushed to her brother’s side, quickly followed by Bill. They managed to pick up the boy’s body and lean it against the tree, but his eyes were still shut.

“Shooting Star, did you bring your cell phone?” Bill asked as Mabel fished her phone out of her pocket. “Call Sixer and Stan, and tell them to drive along the main road; we’ll carry Pine Tree’s body back to the main road and-“

“Bill?” a weak voice asked. Bill turned his head to look at Pine Tree, to see that the human’s eyes were opened and that he was breathing heavily.

“Pine Tree… You’re…” Bill couldn’t get his words out. Despite Dipper’s disappearance clearly indicating that the human must’ve had woken up, Bill hadn’t thought it could have been true. But now, seeing Pine Tree, very weak, but still alive and awake, brought a bright smile to the demon’s face.

“I thought you were dead, Bill,” Pine Tree whispered. “But you’re… Why is half of your face missing?”

“Bill, we’ve got a problem,” Shooting Star interrupted. “I can’t get a signal; I have no way of contacting Grunkle Ford and Grunkle Stan!”

“That’s… Don’t worry; you can probably get Pine Tree back to the hospital from here and use the phone there,” Bill responded.

“Bill, am I hallucinating right now, or is half of your body missing?” Dipper asked.

“It’s because he’s been away from Gravity Falls for too long,” Mabel explained. “By the way, you should probably teleport back now; then you can tell Grunkle Stan and Grunkle Ford where we are and-“

“No,” Bill said.

“What?” Shooting Star gave the demon a look of confusion.

“I used too much magic on tracking down Pine Tree,” Bill elaborated, a sad smile on his face. “I don’t have the magical energy needed to teleport back…”

“Bill?” Dipper looked at the demon and brought a hand to his face. “That’s… that’s not true… You can’t… I just thought you were dead, and now you’re actually going to die!?”

“It’s alright, Pine Tree,” Tears began falling down the demon’s face. “At least, I was able to save you… Hopefully, that makes up for some of the things I did.”

“Are you crying?” Dipper asked, wiping a tear off Bill’s cheek.

“I guess I’m just a little sad that it ends like this,” Bill shrugged. “Perhaps, if things had turned out differently…” Bill trailed off. “Well, let’s not wonder about what ifs; let’s just enjoy it while we can, huh? I’ve only got around five minutes left, so… If I can have a last wish, I’d like to get to kiss you a last time, Pine Tree…”

Dipper had begun to cry as well, as had Mabel.

“NO!!!” Mabel sobbed. “It doesn’t end like this, do you hear me!?! We can fix this! I know we can! We just…” Mabel stopped, unable to keep talking through her stream of tears.

Dipper brought his other hand to the demon’s face and pulled Bill closer, meeting him in a kiss.

They both closed their eyes, enjoying the sensation, the feeling. But as the kiss deepened, Bill began to feel something else emitting from the close contact between him and Pine Tree. He could see a glowing light from behind his eyelids, but even without the light, he could some kind of power, almost being injected into his body.

The demon opened his eyes and broke the kiss, Pine Tree stared at him.

“Did it work?” Pine Tree asked.

“What was that?” Shooting Star demanded to know.

“I thought, that since I have magic like Bill, and since magic is an energetic force, maybe I could give some of my magic to Bill,” Dipper explained. “Did it work?” he asked again.

Bill didn’t need to check if it worked; he could feel that it did. Pine Tree had just saved his life. Bill could do nothing but look in awe at the human.

“Hey, Bill, maybe you should teleport back now?” Shooting Star suggested.

“Right,” Bill rose to his legs. “Get to the main road; I’ll tell Sixer and Stan where you are.”

And with that, Bill teleported back to Gravity Falls.

 

After getting yelled at by both old men for running off with Shooting Star, Bill was finally given enough speaking time to tell them where the twins were. Both old men drove off in the car, leaving Bill behind, alone in the Shack.

About an hour later, the Pines Family were all back, Dipper getting carried into the living room by his Grunkle Stan and having a big blanket wrapped around him by his sister.

Dipper was sitting in the couch along with Mabel, Stan was sitting in his chair, while Ford was sitting by the small wooden table, and Bill was sitting on the floor close to Dipper.

“So when Bill put that sleep spell on me, at first I didn’t realize what had happened,” Dipper explained to the others. “I woke up in, what I thought was the room he had given to me, only the door was completely gone. I thought maybe he had removed it, but as time passed, all the different furniture and items began disappearing, until the room was completely bare. Then the room disappeared too, and I was stuck in this black void, where I couldn’t get out.”

“Do you know how you woke up?” Ford asked, in the midst of taking notes for reference.

“… I heard Bill calling to me,” Dipper continued. “He said that I needed to wake up and that you were all missing me… Then this bright, yellow light appeared in the distance inside the dark void, and I followed it, until I was completely enveloped in it, and then I woke up in a hospital. I was pretty panicked, especially when I saw that everything had returned to normal, because I thought… I thought that Bill had been defeated… So I tried to get back to Gravity Falls. I know it was a stupid idea, but it made sense at the time.”

“No doubt your fever made you slightly delusional,” Ford wrote away.

“Well, now you’re back and okay!” Mabel smiled cheerfully. “And, oh! Bill made pancakes for you! I helped him a little, but it was mostly his own doing, and barely any of the pancakes got burned!”

“Shooting Star, you can’t force Pine Tree to eat those,” Bill laughed. “They’re too old now; Pine Tree deserves fresh pancakes!”

“I’m sure Dipper would love them,” Mabel insisted.

“You made pancakes for me?” Dipper asked the demon, his voice almost a whisper.

“Yeah, well, Shooting Star just decided that I should, so,” Bill shrugged.

“Well, kids, it’s getting late,” Stan announced. “Dipper, you especially need to get to bed now.”

“Come on, Grunkle Stan,” Dipper complained. “I’ve just been in a coma for almost a week; I don’t need any more sleep.”

“Actually, Pine Tree,” Bill interjected. “Considering that you weren’t dreaming while in the ‘coma’, your body and mind probably hasn’t been resting as much as it should have. Getting some rest is exactly what you should be doing now.” Bill rose from the floor. “Well, guess I’ll be heading off now.”

“Oh, no, you don’t have to do that,” Dipper protested somewhat meekly. “You can stay for the night, if you want to. Then you can make me those pancakes tomorrow.”

“Yeah!” Mabel agreed, smiling brightly. “Can he stay Grunkle Stan? PLEASE?”

“Well, I guess he can stay on the couch,” Stan shrugged. “Are you alright with that, Ford?”

“It’s… It’s fine,” Ford nodded and rose to his feet. “I’ll retire to my room now.”

Everyone in the house said their goodbyes and went to bed, Bill receiving a blanket and a pillow from Stan, but the demon found himself unable to sleep.

The house was quiet and dark, the only sound being that of the wind blowing outside. Bill lied on the couch, staring at the ceiling, plagued by so many thoughts.

Where did he stand with Pine Tree now? Had Pine Tree forgiven him? Was Ford allowing him to stay for the night an indicator of whether Bill could keep spending time with the twins? Would he be kicked out tomorrow? Would Pine Tree object to it? Would Shooting Star object to it? What would he do without the twins?

So many worries haunting his mind, keeping the demon awake.

Suddenly, the silence was broken by the stairs creaking; someone was walking down them. It had to either be Pine Tree or Shooting Star, most likely getting a glass of water or something like that, so Bill didn’t pay it much mind. He closed his eyes, vaguely sensing and hearing someone walking past him into the Gift Shop. That did make the demon’s curiosity stir, but Bill didn’t get up until he heard the secret door behind the vending machine open.

Bill bolted up from the couch, rushing into the Gift Shop, but by the time he arrived, the secret door was already closed. Bill teleported down to the deactivated portal, waiting for whoever was using the elevator to come out, but the elevator didn’t stop at the floor Bill was on, it stopped at the floor above; Ford’s study.

Bill teleported again, arriving in the study to find Pine Tree, holding the Memory Erasing Gun to his head.

“PINE TREE, STOP!!!” Bill shouted, nearly screamed, as he tackled the boy to the ground forcing the gun out of his hand.

“I c-can’t take it…” Dipper sobbed and Bill paused, surprised to see that the human was crying, in fact, Bill could practically feel fear and anguish emit from the boy’s mind.

“Pine Tree… Is this because of me?” Bill asked, carefully embracing the smaller body. He could feel Dipper nodding into his shoulder. “… Pine Tree, I’m sorry… I’m so sorry. I can’t apologize enough. I promise I’ll never do it again.”

“I j-just keep seeing you like that, whenever I c-close my eyes,” Dipper sobbed.

“What?” Now Bill was getting confused. While using one hand to rub Dipper’s back, he picked up the Memory Gun and read what it said: ‘Bill Dying’. “Pine Tree… You know why I did it though, right? I did it to save you, to make up for my mistakes.”

“None of this w-would’ve happened if I had j-just listened to you,” Dipper argued.

“No, Pine Tree, no,” Bill protested. “You weren’t the one who caused the end of the world; that was me. In the end, I just proved everything you feared about me was true…”

“Bill, I wasn’t scared of you! I was angry and hurt, and I felt foolish and betrayed, and because of all that, I didn’t listen to you! You’re my boyfriend; I should have believed you…”

“Am I… still your boyfriend?” Bill asked. “’Cause I seem to remember you breaking up with me, so…”

“I… I get it if you won’t take me back,” Dipper whispered. “I treated you awful…”

“That’s not what I meant,” Bill sighed. “You’ve basically said you wanted nothing to do with me, that you’ll never believe anything I have to say… Now, you’re apologizing and saying that you were in the wrong, after I just caused the apocalypse. I’m not seeing the correlation here.”

“I had a lot of time to think while I was under your sleep spell,” Dipper said, pressing his face against Bill’s chest. “A lot of time to look over my previous actions… and I made a lot of terrible decisions. I’m not saying that you haven’t done some wrong things, Bill; I’m just saying that I understand why you did them, and know the reason why you did them was me. So, can we at least agree that we both did some things wrong?”

“… Sure, I’ll make that compromise,” Bill nodded. “As long as you promise to never, ever try to use the Memory Gun on yourself again.”

“I wanted to forget that,” tears began appearing in the corners of Dipper’s eyes. “I… I didn’t want to go to bed tonight, because every time I close my eyes, all I can see is you just, fading away… disappearing forever… I finally did fall asleep, but then I had a nightmare, and…”

“… Pine Tree, I understand if you say no, but… Do you want me to keep the nightmares away?”

“Would you?”

“Of course,” Bill rose to the floor. Cradling Dipper in his arms, he carried the human to the elevator, up the stairs, into his bedroom, and laid him on his bed. Shooting Star was sleeping soundly, hugging a stuffed animal close to her, oblivious to the ongoings in the room.

Bill sat down beside Dipper’s bed and rested his head on the mattress.

“Are you gonna stay there?” Dipper asked.

“I need to be close to you to enter your dreams,” Bill reminded him.

“I know that, it’s just,” Dipper hesitated for a moment, his cheeks turning red. “The floor must be pretty uncomfortable for you… and there’s plenty of room in my bed, so…” that was an obvious lie; in order for the both of them to fit into the bed, the two of them would have to lie very close together. Under normal circumstances, Bill would use this opportunity to tease his Pine Tree mercilessly, but not tonight.

Bill crawled into bed, carefully wrapping his arms around Dipper.

“Is this okay?” Bill asked.

“Yes,” Dipper replied, snuggling closer to Bill. It didn’t take long for his breathing patterns to slow and his mind to start dreaming. Bill took a deep breath, catching the scent of Pine Tree’s hair, before he followed the human into his dreams.

 

Pine Tree’s dreamscape had taken a form closely resembling that of the forest Bill and Shooting Star had found him in. When Bill arrived, he saw a familiar scene play out, his dreamself fading away while Pine Tree kissing him, only this time, Shooting Star wasn’t present.

Bill’s dreamself faded away in full, leaving nothing but air and a distraught Pine Tree behind.

“Bill?” Pine Tree gasped out, staring at the space the dream Bill had just occupied. “Bill!”

The demon quickly walked over to the human, embracing his now shaking body close to his own.

“It’s alright, Pine Tree,” Bill whispered as he held the human close. “I’m here… We’re okay…”

“Bill…” Dipper sniffed. “I thought you were gone…”

“Don’t worry; I’m still here… I’m not leaving you again,” Bill knew he had no way of actually keeping that promise, but at the moment, he felt it more important to comfort Pine Tree.

“… Bill?” Dipper spoke up after a moment of silence.

“Hmm? What is it, Pine Tree?”

“I don’t wanna go back to California,” Dipper replied. “I’m going to miss you…”

“I’m going to miss you too, Pine Tree,” Bill hugged the human’s body closer. “But we can talk over the internet, and you can visit during the holidays, right?”

“It won’t be the same…”

“No… I guess it won’t…”

 

The next two days came and went; if Ford remembered the deal Stan made with Bill, he didn’t bring it up, simply allowing the demon to spend time with the twins. Dipper was still weak from his ordeal, but was quickly regaining his strength and spirit. Mabel was making preparations for her and Dipper’s birthday party. Stan kept running the Mystery Shack, while Bill returned to his previous job as the Shack’s magician.

On the evening, only two days away from the twins’ birthday, Stan and Ford called a family meeting, which included Bill. The group was sitting in the living room, waiting for whatever news the old men had.

“I’ve been observing the news lately,” Ford began. “And it seems like, while Bill managed to stop the apocalypse, it has still caused some irreversible changes; mainly, that the apocalypse brought many supernatural creatures out of hiding, forcing them to reveal themselves to humans. While in most cases of paranormal sightings, the government would step in and contain the situation, in this case the encounters have been too many, too well-documented, and too personal, to cover up.”

“What do you mean, Grunkle Ford?” Mabel asked.

“It means that humanity and supernatural creatures will have to co-exist together much closer than before,” Ford explained.

“Well, isn’t that a good thing?” Bill shrugged. “I mean, think about it; the paranormal creatures bring with them a whole batch of new knowledge, new opportunities!”

“Maybe so, but the last time humans knew about the supernatural was during the Dark Age, and that resulted in a lot of death and destruction…”

“Yeah, but before that, humans and the paranormal actually got along fine,” Bill pointed out. “It was mostly fear-mongering, judgmental idiots who wanted to kill everything different that caused all that death. Humanity might not be perfect now, but I do think it’s made progress since the fifteen hundreds.”

“Aside from that,” Stan interjected. “I’ve finally managed to get into contact with your parents; they were in Italy when the apocalypse broke out. They wanted to know how you were doing and if I had any information on what happened.”

“What did you tell them?” Dipper asked anxiously.

“I said that your demon boyfriend started the end of the world because you two got in a fight,” Stan shrugged nonchalantly and opened a beer can.

“Oh, god,” Dipper slammed his head into the table.

“Then I started telling them about how much trouble you kids have caused around town,” Stan continued. “How Mabel has gotten close to people who are just as weird as her, and how Dipper has started fights and begun talking back. Naturally, they demanded that you kids stay here, and wouldn’t take no for an answer.” Everyone in the room knew that, that was Grunkle Stan’s way of saying that the twins were thriving in Gravity Falls, and that Grunkle Stan had asked the Pines parents to let the kids stay. “So now I guess I need to do the paperwork so you can get admitted to the local High School.”

“You mean, we’re staying in Gravity Falls?” Dipper asked in disbelief.

“Both of us?” Mabel added.

“My hands are tied,” Stan shrugged.

“YES!!!” The twins cheered as they high-fived each other.

“Now that that’s decided,” Ford got everyone’s attention again. “I’ve been thinking, and I’ve decided that if you kids are moving in, it’s probably for the best that Bill moves in too.”

“Wait, what?” Bill exclaimed in confusion.

“I’m probably never going to forgive you for what you did, Bill,” Ford sighed. “But I can’t deny that the twins have changed you somehow; you’re more… human when you’re with them, for lack of a better word. So, for the sake of the world and the universe, you need to move in.”

After that, the subject of where everyone would sleep came up. It was decided that, since the wax figures were gone, the room that used to house them would become Mabel’s, while Dipper and Bill would take the attic.

 

The last couple days until the twins’ birthday were spent with telling everyone that they were staying, as well as renovating Mabel’s new room.

The twins’ birthday, in question, while not everything Mabel had hoped for, was a great success. The twins received a lot of presents from friends and acquaintances in town, there was a lot of cake and snacks, and Mabel finally got the karaoke party she had wanted, this time with no zombies.

In the evening, after the party, Dipper and Bill went to Bill’s motel room to pack his last stuff, and agreed with the others that Grunkle Stan would get them and Bill’s belongings the next morning.

When Dipper walked into Bill’s room, he saw that the demon had already packed most of his things.

“You didn’t even need my help,” Dipper scoffed.

“Well, look on the bright side,” Bill smirked. “That just means we have more time to ourselves.”

“If that’s what you wanted you could have just said so,” Dipper laughed and grabbed one of the cardboard boxes, believing it to be empty, but when he picked it up, it was clear that there was something inside.

“Oh, that’s not for moving, that’s for the garbage,” Bill explained, sounding slightly nervous.

“Bill,” Dipper frowned and put the box back down. “Are you keeping any more secrets from me?”

“Technically… yes,” Bill said carefully.

“Urgh,” Dipper groaned and opened the box despite Bill’s frantic protests. Inside he found glass jars and vials, filled the different things he had seen Bill collect through the summer. “Bill… What is this?”

“… It’s for that secret project I told you about,” Bill explained, nervously scratching the back of his head and averting eye contact.

“… Were you actually going to throw it out?”

“… Yeah,” Bill nodded.

“Why?” Dipper asked in disbelief. “I mean, you most of summer on this, and now you’re just going to throw it out!?”

“It… it doesn’t matter anymore,” Bill insisted.

“If it doesn’t matter anymore, then tell me; what is it for?”

“It’s… Pine Tree, did you know that it’s possible to turn a human into a demon?”

“Bill, don’t try to change the subject!” Dipper snarled, starting to get angry.

“I’m not!” Bill insisted. “Look, in the past, demons had much more contact with humans, and sometimes, a demon would turn a human into a demon, through an ancient ritual. It hasn’t been done in millennia, and the ritual itself was written in a now unknown language. Of course, I’ve long since translated the ritual, and figured out the ingredients needed to perform it; Magic from both a being of ancient and new blood, from a being that can regenerate, from a being that does not age, from a being of incorporeal form, from a being immune to magic, and lastly, an item created from the human in question’s mind.”

“So… all this time, you were going to turn me and Mabel into demons?” Dipper asked, having calmed down from his anger during Bill’s explanation.

“I was going to wait until you were adults,” Bill clarified. “Look, in the beginning, I did it because I thought it would be great to have two demon buddies with me, nothing more than that, but down the road, it became less about how much fun it would be to have you two around forever, and more about me realizing that I didn’t want to have to ever say goodbye to you, permanently. I’m not gonna deny it; my intentions were always, and still are, completely selfish.”

“Bill, why didn’t you say that?” Dipper asked, stepping closer to the demon. “Why didn’t you tell me what the objects were for?”

“Like I said, I wanted to wait until you were adults,” Bill explained. “Maybe I thought that then there was a bigger chance you would say yes. But look, none of this matter now, I got it; you don’t want to spend eternity with me, you made that clear during the apocalypse.”

“What are you talking about?” Dipper placed a hand on the side of Bill’s face.

“You didn’t seem particularly happy about the idea of spending eternity together back then,” Bill clarified.

“Bill, I don’t know if you remember, but you never actually offered that,” Dipper pointed out.

“It was implied,” Bill responded.

“… Your offer was actually pretty tempting,” the human admitted. “Look, Bill, nothing that happened during the apocalypse matters anymore; we got into a fight, we got over it, and I don’t need you to make this decision for me.”

“So… what?”

“Well, you were right about one thing,” Dipper turned away from the demon and sat down on the bed. “I’m too young to make the choice. I mean, this is a permanent thing; once I’ve made my decision, there’s no turning back. I think I need to be at least twenty-one before I can decide.”

“That’s fair enough,” Bill nodded.

“But you know, Bill,” Dipper laid his body down on the mattress. “I’ve been thinking a lot lately…”

“You know that can’t lead to any good,” Bill joked.

“I mean, I’ve been thinking about us, our relationship… and trust,” Dipper clarified. “And I think I’m ready.”

“… Ready for what?” Bill asked confused.

“The next step… you know?” Dipper bit his lower lip. “Having my first time? With you?”

“…” Bill stared at Dipper for a moment before walking over to the human, picking him and carrying him to the bathroom. “Stay there. Gimme like… three minutes,” the demon said before closing the door. About two minutes later, Bill used his magic to reopen the door.

The electronic lights had been turned off, the only source of luminescence was multiple flickering wax candles placed on multiple surfaces, a trail of red rose petals scattered on the floor, and Bill was lying naked on the bed striking a pose.

“Oh my god,” Dipper burst into laughter at the scene.

“Hey, it’s supposed to be romantic,” Bill pouted. Dipper began approached the bed and sat down beside Bill.

“Look, Bill, you didn’t need to do all this,” Dipper gestured at the room.

“Well, maybe I wanted your first time to be special,” the demon argued, still somewhat pouting.

“Come here,” Dipper laid down beside Bill and wrapped his arms around the demon. “I love you, Bill. I don’t know if I’ve ever said that, but I really do. I love you.”

“I love you too, Pine Tree,” Bill took one of Dipper’s hands and brought to his mouth, kissing it gently. “I… get that I might have gone a bit overboard, but I just really wanna get this right.”

The human wasn’t sure if Bill was referring to the room decorations or just their relationship in general. Either way, the answer was the same: “We’ll figure it out together,” Dipper promised the demon.

Dipper sat back up on the bed and started to remove his shirt, followed by Bill beginning to remove his Pine Tree’s pants while Dipper laid back down, allowing the demon to take control.

“You’re so beautiful,” Bill told Dipper while removing the human’s underwear.

“So, uh, Bill, what now?” Dipper asked, sounding nervous.

“Getting cold feet?” Bill joked right as he removed Dipper’s socks.

“No,” Dipper responded indignantly. “But I guess I am a little… uneasy…”

“Don’t worry; this won’t be much different our previous sexual encounters,” Bill chuckled. “The main difference this time is that we’ll have full-on penetration,” Bill began searching through one of the drawers in his bedside table, fishing out a small bottle.

“Umm, won’t we need a condom?” Dipper asked.

“Well, it’s your first time, so I doubt you have any STDs, and I haven’t had sex with anyone else in this body, so I don’t have any STDs either,” Bill explained. “I don’t even think this body can get STDs, but if you wanna use a condom, I can teleport out and get some.”

“No, that’s okay,” Dipper replied. “I just… I was always told in health class to use condoms, even during anal sex.”

“Alright, since we won’t be using a condom,” Bill picked up the bottle and squeezed some of the liquid out, slathering his fingers in it. “First, we need to stretch you,” Bill began pressing the first finger slowly, gently inside Dipper. The human groaned a little at the sensation. “Hmm, you’re tight, but not as tight as I expected, Pine Tree.”

“Umm, well… I may have experimented a bit last night,” Dipper mumbled, his cheeks flushed with embarrassment.

“Oho! Pine Tree~” Bill smirked while adding the next finger. “You little minx! Not as innocent as you appear, huh?”

“Oh, just drop it, Bill,” Dipper groaned, taking in deep breaths as the fingers stretched his hole.

“I’ll drop it for now,” Bill promised, adding the third finger. “But I’ll bring it up another time~”

Just then, the fingers brushed by Dipper’s sweet spot, causing the human to emit a loud moan and ignore the demon’s last comment.

“Huh, seems like I found what I was looking for,” Bill said to himself as he stroked the spot again multiple times, delighting in each sound he could draw out from his Pine Tree.

“Bill! Bill, I’m ready now!” Dipper gasped, his whole body wriggling in pleasure.

“Hmm, I don’t know, Pine Tree~” Bill smirked as he kept teasing the human. “You still seem a bit too tight~”

“Bill!” Dipper sobbed. “Please! I need you!”

“Oh, I can’t say no to that face,” Bill smiled and removed his fingers, a small whine escaping Dipper at the now empty sensation. The demon lubricated his member and positioned it, ready to penetrate the human. Bill’s face turned seriously as he caught Dipper’s gaze. “We’ll take it slow, alright?”

“Bill,” Dipper whined. “I need it now…”

“You’ll just have to be patient,” Bill replied while slowly sliding inside Dipper. “Okay, experimented or not, you clearly have a virgin hole,” the demon groaned as he slid his dick into the human’s narrow entrance.

“Bill,” Dipper sobbed. “Harder, please…”

“We can go harder in a moment,” Bill promised. “I don’t want to hurt you, Pine Tree.”

Dipper bit his lower lip almost hard enough to draw blood. The human began moving his hips, trying to make Bill go faster.

“Oh!” Bill moaned. “Pine Tree, I can’t start thrusting until I’ve gotten all the way inside,” the demon reminded him. After a few more agonizing seconds, Bill finally hit that sweet spot again, causing Dipper to nearly forget how to breathe.

It was first then that the Bill’s started thrusting, slowly and carefully at first, making sure to hit the right spot each time, but at Dipper’s urging, and as they both got closer and closer, Bill’s thrusting became harder, faster, and more desperate.

Dipper placed his hands on Bill’s shoulders for support, digging his nails into the demon’s flesh, nearly piercing the skin. Bill groaned at the sweet pain, and kept thrusting, even as he felt Pine Tree tense up.

Dipper came with a big moan; tense one moment and lying relaxed and heavy on the mattress the next.

It didn’t take long for the demon to follow suit, filling Dipper with that black, inky liquid, and collapsing on top of the human.

The two of them just lay there for a moment or two, catching their breath.

Bill was the first to get up, going to the bathroom and returning with a wet rag, he cleaned himself and Dipper before the cum began drying out. After that, he laid down beside Dipper and held him close.

“That was… pretty great,” Dipper said, somewhat out of breath still.

“Hey, this was just our first time,” Bill joked. “Wait until we both get some training.”

“I wouldn’t mind that,” Dipper smiled at the demon, before becoming serious. “Do you think we can make this work?”

“We just did,” Bill laughed.

“No, I meant our relationship,” Dipper clarified.

“Why not?” Bill shrugged. “The way I see it, we’ve already overcome the biggest hurdle.”

“You might have a point there,” Dipper nodded, before snuggling close to Bill.

“You know, Pine Tree,” Bill whispered. “Sixer was right about one thing; you do make me more human. I don’t know if that’s good thing or a bad thing, but I don’t mind it. In fact, I kinda like it.”

Dipper responded with a sleepy hum before mumbling out: “I love you, Bill…”

“I love you too, Pine Tree,” Bill said and kissed the human on the forehead. And with that, they both fell asleep, knowing that from now on, everything was going to turn out alright in the end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, now we only have one chapter left; the epilogue! Then, I'm probably gonna keep writing some fics for this AU here and there, while mainly focusing on my other fic-in-progress, Lovesick, and I'm also planning on starting on another BillDip fic, but not until I've finished the epilogue!
> 
> Please leave a comment if you want to! I love to get comments:3


	21. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Years after the end of the world started, and was narrowly avoided, Bill and Dipper make a commitment to each other, one which will last for all eternity.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Omg, FINALLY. I am so sorry it took this long, and so sorry you had to wait for this. Hopefully, it was worth the waitX3
> 
> Also, about the song used in this fic; it's "Nothing's gonna change my love for you", specifically the George Benson version. The reason why I didn't use it in chapter 12, is because I was on the fence with whether I wanted to use this one or "You're the inspiration" by Chicago, but then I later on saw Deadpool, and they used that song, so I decided to go for this one instead

Dipper was sitting on the bed inside his old room in the Mystery Shack; the room now had the same barren, unlived-in feeling it had when he and Mabel had first arrived in Gravity Falls. It was hard to believe that it had been seven years since then.

After turning nineteen, both twins had moved out of the Shack, but stayed in Gravity Falls, getting an apartment in the same complex with Bill and Dipper officially living together. Ford and Stan had decided shortly after to travel out into the world to document other paranormal creatures, leaving the Mystery Shack to Soos, with him, his girlfriend, Melody, and grandmother moving in. A year later, Soos and Melody got married, and barely a year after that, they had their first child, a daughter named Stania Ramirez.

At the moment, Dipper was dressed in a white suit, fidgeting with the blue tie, and most of all trying to remember how to breathe, when Mabel stepped into the room, wearing a short, bright pink dress, and holding a bouquet of jonquils, daffodils, and white heathers, with a couple of small, blue forget-me-nots sprinkled in between, tied together with a blue band.

“Well, bro-bro, getting cold feet?” she asked with a smile, sitting down beside her brother on the bed.

“Not exactly,” Dipper answered carefully. “But I am getting nervous.”

“What do you have to be nervous about?” Mabel said dismissively.

“You mean aside from the fact that I might screw up, in front of all our friends and family, including my fiancée?” Dipper reminded her, before letting out a small, humorless laugh. “And I know it’s stupid, but I keep worrying that Bill’s gonna leave me at the altar.”

“Dipper, he can’t leave you at the altar; there is no altar,” Mabel joked. “No, but, seriously, he’s the one who proposed to you, remember?”

Dipper looked at the ring on his left hand; a platinum ring, with a yellow sapphire carved like a pine tree. Bill had it custom made, and used it to propose to Dipper on the anniversary of the day they met.

“Remember how I told you, he had wanted our wedding day to be on the day we first got together?” Dipper smiled slightly at the memory. “And I had to tell him that planning a wedding takes a lot more time than a couple of weeks?”

“Yeah,” Mabel laughed along. “But hey, we got everything ready by September; that’s pretty good.”

They sat in a comfortable silence for a while before Mabel spoke up again: “You know, he’s pretty mad about not being allowed to see you before the wedding.”

“I can imagine,” Dipper sighed, but he was still smiling. “Is it time soon?”

Mabel picked up her cell phone from her purse and looked at the time. “Dad will get you in about fifteen minutes,” she said. “Oh, right! I needed to give you these!” Mabel placed the bouquet in her brother’s lap.

“Maybe I should have told Bill I didn’t want a bouquet, when I told him that I didn’t want to wear a dress,” Dipper shook his head as he picked up the flowers.

“Actually, the bouquet was my idea,” Mabel explained. “But Bill picked out the flowers.”

“Why?”

“Look, you got to catch the bouquet at Soos and Melody’s wedding,” Mabel argued. “I wanna catch the bouquet too!”

“You do know that whole myth about catching the bouquet is just that, a myth, right?”

“I don’t know, Dipper, let’s look at the facts; you caught a wedding bouquet, and you’re the next person who’s getting married. Seems pretty legit to me.”

“Well, if it means that much to you,” Dipper smiled. “I guess I’ll just have to do it.”

“Yes!” Mabel pumped her fist into the air. “By the way, did you and Bill get everything packed?”

“We packed the last things yesterday,” Dipper replied. “But Bill still hasn’t shown me where we’re moving; he says it’s a surprise. I told him that I’d prefer to know where I’m going to live, but he just said that if I didn’t like it, he could fix it immediately.”

“Honestly Dipper, I think you’re gonna love the new place! And since I have actually seen it, I totally get why Bill wants to keep it a surprise; I’m telling you, it’s great!”

“I’ll take your word for it,” Dipper responded right as a soft knock came from behind the door. The door opened and Wendy, dressed in suit and tie, poked her head out from behind the door.

“Hey, Mabel, we need you downstairs,” the older girl said. “Oh, and Dipper, congrats with the wedding, by the way.”

“Thanks, Wendy,” Dipper gave her a nervous smile. “I just hope everything’s gonna go somewhat well.”

“Don’t you worry about a thing,” Wendy grinned. “We have everything under control.”

Mabel gave her brother a small hug before rising from the bed and walking over to Wendy.

“Like I said, dad will get you in a bit,” Mabel reminded him before following Wendy out the door.

Dipper sat on the bed for a while, trying his best to keep from thinking about everything that could possibly go wrong, before there was another knock on the door.

“Yes?” Dipper called. The door opened and his father stepped through, also wearing formal attire. “I think you’re a bit early, dad.”

“I know,” his father nodded before closing the door and sitting down beside his son. “I wanted to get some time to talk to you. How’s things been between you and Bill?”

“Well, we’re getting married,” Dipper shrugged. “That should probably clue you in.”

“Yes, of course,” Jack Pines nodded again. “But… you aren’t only getting married. This is a pretty big day for you.”

“For Mabel too,” Dipper added.

“I know. That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. Are you sure about this? I mean, a marriage, you can always get a divorce, but this-“

“Dad, Mabel and I have been discussing this for four years, and I have been thinking about it for seven. I’m not making this decision lightly; I know what I’m doing.”

“Look, Oren, I understand that, but I just need to know that you’re making the right decision. I love you, even if it doesn’t always seem that way, and I want you to be happy.”

“Dad, Bill makes me happy.”

“I know. I can only hope that he’ll always do,” Jack rose from the bed and took Dipper’s hand, leading the young man out of the room, down the stairs, and outside the shack where the ceremony was about to take place.

 

Outside the Mystery Shack, near the forest, dozens of chairs had been set up, each one occupied. Of course, some guests were too big for the chairs, like the Multibear, or the one Manotaur who had shown up. The guests were a mix of humans and the supernatural, fitting considering the two who were getting married.

A long, red carpet split the many rows of chairs, leading to a white marble arch, decorated with daffodils, under which Bill stood, dressed in a black suit with a yellow bowtie. The demon was standing with his hands behind his back, when he saw Dipper arriving with Jack, he smiled brightly.

Dipper was led by his father down the make-shift aisle, to the sound of cameras taking pictures, some overemotional guests crying, and the wedding march playing on Mabel’s CD player.

When Dipper arrived next to Bill, his father let go of him, allowing Dipper and Bill to join hands. They had decided that their wedding wouldn’t be very traditional; instead of wasting time having someone talk about how “holy” their union was or giving unwanted exes a chance to ruin the event, they had agreed to make it simple. They would just state how much they loved each other in front of the witnesses, kiss, and move on to the reception. Or rather, Bill, Dipper, and Mabel would be doing something before they got to the reception.

Mabel stopped the CD player, and Dipper was suddenly acutely aware of all the people staring at him. All previous fears of screwing up, and horribly embarrassing himself, came rushing back, and Dipper didn’t know what to say. Luckily, it seemed like Bill understood, and the demon started.

“Pine Tree,” Bill said, his voice ringing out over the crowd. “I had never thought this moment could be possibly. No demon dreams of finding the love of their life, and settling down with a family… But these last years, despite only being a small fraction of my millennia long life, have been the happiest by far, and I can’t wait to spend eternity with you… If I had a soul, I would offer it to you in a heartbeat. I love you.”

Dipper felt like he was about to tear up and cry, right then and there, but he held the tears back, and began to speak, hoping his speech could measure up to Bill’s.

“Bill,” Dipper took a deep breath before continuing. “I love you too. I never imagined myself getting married to a demon, but standing here today, I can say with certainty that, there is no one I would rather have by my side. I don’t know how, but it’s like you complete me in some way, like you fill a hole in my life I didn’t know was there. And I will try to do so the same for you.”

Bill gently placed his hand on Dipper’s cheek, and leaned down to kiss the human. It was chaste and quick, but Dipper knew it was only a small taste of things to come. As they parted, people began to clap and cheer, and Dipper threw the bouquet in Mabel’s direction, but the flowers landed in Pacifica’s lap. Mabel didn’t seem to mind that, as she hugged her girlfriend close.

As people began to filter out, to go to the reception, Dipper walked over to Mabel and Pacifica.

“Well, Pacifica,” Dipper said. “Looks like someone needs to pop the question soon.”

“That is none of your business,” Pacifica replied coldly, but a slight blush had appeared on her cheeks. Pacifica turned to Mabel. “I’ll go to the reception now.”

“See you there,” Mabel smiled and kissed Pacifica on the cheek.

“Welp, saplings,” Bill said, placing a hand on each twins’ shoulder. “Let’s hurry up, so the guests don’t have to wait for the cake.”

The twins followed Bill into the forest, stopping at a clearing. Three symbols were drawn on the ground; a pine tree, a shooting star, and a triangle with an eye. Right beside the markings on the ground, the ingredients Bill had collected, so long ago, lay.

“Alright,” Bill sighed. “Last chance to back out.”

“Bill, we’re doing this,” Dipper responded earnestly.

Bill nodded. “Step into your respective markings.”

Mabel stepped inside the star and Dipper the pine tree. Bill carried all the ingredients to the triangle, which he stepped inside.

“First, the sand from the Sandman, and the fur from the gremlin,” Bill said in a ceremonious tone, very much unlike him, and took out the respective ingredients of their containment. Bill began to burn the sand and fur in his hand, the smoke emitting taking on a blue color. He blew the smoke towards the twins, and the suddenly, the entire area was enveloped in a fog-like smoke.

All three symbols began to light up, Bill’s yellow, Dipper’s blue, and Mabel’s pink, the lights contrasting to the dark fog.

“The feathers and teeth from a siren,” Bill continued, pulling out said items and burning them as well; the feathers burned into a red ash, while the teeth melted into a black smiley mass. “So you can regenerate, no matter how many limbs you lose.”

Bill let it fall to the ground, where it spread on its own to Dipper’s and Mabel’s symbols, where it almost imbued on the markings.

“Bark from a Huldrakarl,” Bill pulled out the bark and burned it to, the bark transforming into yellow sparks, flittering around in the air. “So you retain your youth.”

Next, Bill pulled out the ectoplasm. “Traces of a ghost, so you can physically travel to the Mindscape.”

As Bill burned the ectoplasm, it bubbled and boiled, finally becoming a white mist, spinning around the area.

“The horn and scales of a dragon,” Bill took out the ingredients and began to burn them. “Granting both of you incredible power.”

The horn and scales began to glow in the fire, until with a small bang, they exploded in puff of smoke.

“And finally,” Bill pulled out the last ingredients, the tiara and the ring. “An item taken from your minds, to tie everything together.”

He held each item in one hand and began to burn them. As the flames engulfed the two items, they transformed into two balls of light, blue and pink. The blue one floated towards Dipper and the pink one towards Mabel, until they touched the twins and entered their being.

A great, blinding flash occurred, temporarily blinding the trio.

By the time Dipper opened his eyes, the sight that greeted him was his sister, only she looked different; the first, and most obvious thing, was that her right eye had turned from brown to hot pink, and her pupils were slits. Aside from that, the ends of her hair seemed to move slightly, despite the lack of wind, and she seemed… younger.

“Oh, Dipper,” Mabel gasped looking at him.

“What is it?” Dipper asked, already panicking slightly.

“Your left eyes,” Mabel responded. “It’s blue… And your teeth!”

Dipper glided his tongue over his teeth, noticing that they felt somewhat sharper.

“Are my pupils slits too?” Dipper questioned.

“Yeah!” Mabel nodded. “And you look…”

“… Younger?” Dipper finished.

“I actually have an explanation for that,” Bill interjected. “You see, when humans reach a certain age, their bodies start deteriorating; dying little by little, as the years go by. However, humanoid demons, which now includes you, only age up to that, and then their bodies stop aging all together.”

“Guess that explains it,” Dipper noted.

“Wait, this means I have powers now, right?” Mabel asked, before turning to her brother with a huge grin on her face. “Not so tall and mighty now, are you?”

“Still taller than you,” Dipper reminded her.

“And I’m taller than both of you, and more powerful,” Bill added. “Now, I believe we still have a reception to make?”

“Lead on, oh most powerful demon,” Dipper joked, and the trio left the forest.

 

The trip to the reception, which was held at an old warehouse right outside of town, ended up taking longer than expected, due to an episode where Mabel wanted to use her powers, sat a tree on fire, and nearly caused a forest fire, but they still got there at a reasonable time.

Once they arrived, all the guests wanted to see Dipper and Mabel’s new demon-selves. Mabel enjoyed the attention, but Dipper felt awkward and out of place.

“Hey, you doing alright?” Bill asked, placing a hand on Dipper’s shoulder.

“It’s just… a lot of attention,” Dipper whispered.

“HEY!!!” Bill shouted as loud as he could. “Me and Pine Tree are gonna cut the cake now!”

“How does that help?” Dipper grumbled to Bill as they walked over to the cake.

It was big; it had to be, considering all the guests. Bill had originally wanted “Better than sex cake”, but Dipper had refused. Although, after pouting about it for ten minutes, Dipper told Bill they could have “Better than sex cake” for their anniversary.

After a long search, they came across a recipe for “Lemon poppy seed cake”, which they found too fitting to resist. Along with that, they settled on a meringue butter cream filling, and black and white royal icing in a swirly design.

On top of the cake, two small figurine that Mabel had made was placed; a yellow triangle and a blue pine tree.

Bill cut a piece, placing it on plate, and dug into said piece with a fork, scooping up a small amount of cake on the fork.

“Open wide, Pine Tree~” Bill teased, moving the fork towards Dipper.

Dipper opened his mouth, but jolted back when Bill purposefully missed his mouth, getting Dipper’s nose covered in butter cream.

“Bill!” Dipper screeched, his cheeks flushing red in embarrassment and frustration.

“Aw, don’t get mad at me, Pine Tree~” Bill pouted and licked the butter cream off of Dipper’s nose, causing Dipper’s face to turn more red than it was before.

After a short moment of Dipper practically squeaking in embarrassment, Bill finally just handed him a piece of cake, mostly because everyone else were beginning to get impatient waiting for their piece.

 

Once the cake had been eaten, Dipper was starting to want to go home, feeling exhausted after the long day, but Bill insisted that they still had to do one thing.

So Bill dragged Dipper out to the dance floor, and signaled Soos, who was DJ-ing.

“Let me guess,” Dipper said deadpanned. “You chose a Babba song, right?”

“I knew there was a more fitting choice,” Bill exclaimed in mock frustration. “But no… Although, you might still find the song somewhat… familiar.”

The music started up, and Dipper did recognize the opening melody, but he wasn’t sure where he had heard it from. Bill began to dance Dipper, holding him close, swaying from side to side, and then Dipper heard the lyrics.

♫If I had to live my life without you near me,  
The days would all be empty,  
The nights would seem so long.  
With you, I see forever all too clearly.  
I might have been in love before,  
But it never felt this strong.♫

Dipper was sure he had heard this very song before, but he still had no idea where. However, he did find the entire situation very… familiar.

♫Our dreams are young and we both know,  
They’ll take us where we want to go!  
Hold me now, touch me now,  
I don’t want to live without you~

Nothing’s gonna change my love for you,  
You ought to know by now how much I love you~  
One thing you can be sure of,  
I’ll never ask for more than your love.  
Nothing’s gonna change my love for you,  
You ought to know by now how much I love you~  
The world may change my whole life through,  
But nothing’s gonna change my love for you…♫

Dipper realized that Bill was humming along to the song. This wasn’t too surprising; the demon had chosen the song, so natural he would know it, but still… It seemed like the song also held some significance to Bill. Then, it suddenly hit Dipper.

“This was the song we danced to on your first birthday,” Dipper whispered in realization.

“It is,” Bill nodded. “I remembered some of the lyrics, and Shooting Star helped me find the right song.”

“I didn’t even pay much attention to the song back then,” Dipper admitted. “I was too flustered about… well, everything.”

“To be fair, you still kinda are,” Bill laughed. The sound of his laughter was bright and clear to Dipper, like the sound of a bell. Dipper smiled and placed his head on Bill’s shoulder.

The dance was over soon, and after that, Bill agreed to take Dipper home, or rather, show him their new home.

 

As soon as they had said goodbye and left the building, Bill had put a blindfold over Dipper’s eyes. Bill said it was because he wanted everything to be a surprise, but as he began to lead Dipper, it became obvious to Dipper where they were going.

“Bill, why are we going back to the Mystery Shack?” Dipper asked, frowning beneath the blindfold.

“We aren’t!” Bill insisted. “Well, we are going in the general direction, but our destination isn’t the Shack.”

Dipper recognized the road they were travelling; after all, he had spent many years traversing the same path, which is why he was surprised when, just as they reached what Dipper knew to be the shack, Bill took a turn.

Even if Dipper didn’t know the road, he could still tell they were entering the forest; the feeling of the uneven path, and the sound of sticks and dried leaves crushing under his feet made that apparent.

Bill led Dipper deep into the forest, taking him down an unfamiliar path. Dipper could barely see any light shining through the blindfold, since the trees blocked out most of moon and starlight, until suddenly, as if stepping out from beneath shade, he could see light through the blindfold.

Bill then removed the blindfold, and the sight that greeted Dipper was almost breathtaking; he was standing in a clearing, a very big one at that, trees surrounding him. Beneath him was grass, as well as a couple of wildflowers. To the right of him was a lake that seemed to be filled fish. But what really drew his attention was, right in front of him, there was a house, made of wood and two stories tall. The house looked almost like it had been taken out of a fairy tale; it was quaint, but also expensive, like some rich business man’s secret getaway.

“… Bill?” Dipper said after a moment of silence. “What is that?”

“It’s our new home!” Bill explained excitedly. “A lot of people pitched in building it, but the overall planning process was me! Wait! Before you say anything!”

Bill rushed over to the house and placed a hand on one of the walls. His hand started glowing, then the entire house glowed, and suddenly an extra addition to the house… grew from the side of the house.

“It was build with enchanted wood!” Bill exclaimed. “We can basically change the overall layout of the house as we want, so if we ever want more or less room, we can easily change it!”

Dipper started walking up to the house, his mouth slightly agape in wonder.

“You did all this?” Dipper asked.

“Well, yeah, it’s your wedding present!” Bill replied, giving his husband a big hug. “Oh! And also, notice the ring of mushrooms growing around the house?”

Dipper looked and noticed that there was indeed an enormous ring of mushrooms, circling the entire house and huge part of the grass field too.

“It’s a fairy ring,” Bill explained. “It prevents people with bad intentions from getting into our house; like a security system, but better! So? Do you like it?”

Dipper looked at Bill, and he could see just the faintest look of doubt on his eyes, as if Bill was scared that Dipper didn’t like it.

“I love it,” Dipper smiled and gave Bill a chaste kiss on the cheek. “I wanna see the inside too; most importantly, I wanna see our bedroom.”

“Oh, and why is that?” Bill asked knowingly, a smirk on his lips.

“Well, I still need to give you your wedding present,” Dipper explained. He discreetly pulled part of his shirt up and pants down, giving Bill a flash of white panties. “It’s not as good as a house, but I thought it would make for a good gift, since I didn’t wear a wedding dress like you originally wanted.”

“Bedroom, now,” Bill responded in a serious tone, picking Dipper up off the ground, carrying him bridal-style.

“Bill!” Dipper squeaked in surprise.

“What? Isn’t this part of wedding traditions?” Bill teased, used his magic to open the door, and carried Dipper inside, closing the door behind them.

Dipper barely had any time to look at the interior of the house, as Bill quickly moved over to a staircase, and ran up two steps at a time. He flung open the nearest door, once he reached the second floor, and threw Dipper down on the king-sized bed inside the room.

Dipper caught a glimpse of his bags, sitting in a corner of the room, waiting to be unpacked, before Bill jumped into the bed, staring down at Dipper with a smirk on his face.

“Well, aren’t you eager?” Dipper laughed, as Bill began to undress him; first the tie, then the jacket, then the shirt.

“You bet I am,” Bill said, throwing the articles of clothing away. He opened a drawer in a nightstand beside the bed, and pulled out a long piece of silk cloth. “What did you say, Pine Tree? You feeling up for this?”

“Oh no!” Dipper let out a fake gasp. “Please don’t tie me up, Mr. Demon~”

“Oh, and how are you going to stop me?” Bill teased, beginning to spin the silk cloth around the bed frame, and then tied each end of the cloth around Dipper’s wrists.

“What are you going to do to me?” Dipper giggled.

“Does this give you a clue?” Bill began removing Dipper’s shoes, socks, and pants, leaving him only in the panties; white with blue ribbons on.

“Oh, please don’t, Mr. Demon~” Dipper laughed. “I’ve never had anyone touch me there before.”

“But that’s what makes it so appealing~” Bill smirked, but then his face turned serious. “You remember our safe word, right?”

“’Scalene’,” Dipper nodded. “Now, come on; I want my first time as a married man.”

“It’s gonna be your first time as a demon, too,” Bill pointed out, pulling out a bottle of lube from the same drawer he got the silk cloth from.

“Right, I’m a big, scary demon now, too,” Dipper giggled, just before letting out a gasp, as Bill pressed the first finger inside him.

“Mhm, ‘s gonna feel so good to deflower you, my little human~” Bill smirked, getting back into character.

“Oh, please don’t fuck my virgin hole~” Dipper moaned while Bill continued stretching him.

“And how are you going to stop me?” Bill finished stretching Dipper, covered his own member in lube, and inserted it into his Pine Tree.

“Ah!” Dipper moaned, feeling so nice and filled. Bill continued to thrust in and out Dipper, created a smooth rhythm, only to change pace and break it, taking Dipper by surprise.

“So tight,” Bill groaned and started stroking Dipper’s cock. “I’m not gonna last~”

“Me neither,” Dipper gasped, moving his hips with Bill’s thrusts.

With only a few more thrusts, Dipper came, closely followed by Bill.

“That was pretty good,” Dipper smiled lazily at his husband.

Bill hummed in agreement and removed the silk cloth from Dipper’s wrists. He then pulled out a small towel from the nightstand drawer and dried them off.

“What isn’t there in that drawer?” Dipper asked jokingly.

“You can look through it tomorrow, if you want,” Bill responded, lying down right beside Dipper, despite the size of the bed and the amount of leftover room.

“I might just do that,” Dipper smiled, snuggling close to Bill. “After all, we have an entire week before our honeymoon is over; we should spend it on something interesting, right?”

“I couldn’t agree more, Pine Tree,” Bill smiled back, pulling Dipper closer. “Goodnight, Pine Tree. I love you.”

“I love you too, Bill,” Dipper sighed contently, falling asleep knowing that they would move on to round two in the Dreamscape.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, the main story to the Trustworthy Au is finished, but I am still going to add many side stories, depicting different adventures and experiences that happens between chapter 20 and the epilogue, as well as events happening after the epilogue.
> 
> Please leave a comment if you want to:3


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